Second Chances
by Kali ma1
Summary: Sequal to The last Sabi. Lia has returned to Earth on a mission and must rebuild her life. Chapter sixteen: more creepy dreaming, harry in a bad mood and Voldemort.
1. Unknown Returns

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that J.K.Rowling owns.  
  
  
Second chances  
chapter one: Unknown returns  
  
  
  
  
  
I was back at the jetty, back where it all began, or ended, depending on how you looked at it.  
  
And once again the woman was seated next to me. She hadn't changed in the slightest, but then, neither had I.  
  
"It is time Lia."  
  
I waited for her to continue.  
  
"It is time for you to return."  
  
"Return?"  
  
"Yes, go back to where you are needed."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
She though this over for a while, "Lia, are you dead?"  
  
"Well.. Yeah."  
  
"No. You are merely forgotten. After all, if nobody remembers a person, how can they exist?"  
  
I couldn't think of anything to say to that, so I said nothing.  
  
"There is a girl at Hogwarts Lia. She needs you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She is a Sabi."  
  
Again I was speechless, but for a different reason.  
  
"She will be hunted Lia. Like you have been and will be."  
  
"Will be?"  
  
"It is time for your return."  
  
"What? You mean... Go back?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But... Nobody remembers me, and you said so yourself; how can I exist?"  
  
"I didn't say nobody remembers you."  
  
"You mean somebody does?"  
  
"Yes. The dark lords spell was not strong enough to reach them and they still have memories of you."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"You will find out in time. The question is Lia, do you want to go back?"  
  
Did I want to go back? I'd only just gotten used to being dead, well 'forgotten' and now I had the chance to go back... Of course, it would be different, Lily and James would be dead, Sirius and Remus would have no idea who I was, heck, nobody would have any idea who I was. But if there was another Sabi out there...  
  
"Do you want to go back?"  
  
"Will I be my age now or the age I should be?"  
  
"You are already the age you should be. Only your body is young."  
  
"Yes, but-"  
  
"You will appear to be thirty five, the age you are now.  
  
"Will I see Sirius and Remus?"  
  
"You may, but they will not remember you."  
  
"Does this girl know she is a Sabi?"  
  
"No."  
  
So she was just like me.   
  
"Do you want to go back Lia?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good."  
  
  
  
  
I awoke, feeling strangely calm for a person who's just been given a second go at life, in what appeared to be a small middle class hotel room. The walls were covered in yellow wallpaper and a glance through the dirty window showed dark storm clouds, which, after all year round perfect weather, came as quite a shock.  
  
I was taller than I used to be and after a quick look in the mirror I saw that my eyes and hair were still black but my hair had been cut to shoulder length and fine lines had appeared all over my face.  
  
I had gone from being a fifteen year old to a thirty five year old. Quite a shock.  
  
I quickly decided that, as tempting as it was, I couldn't sit around a hotel room all day. I knew I should try find this Sabi girl, (didn't even know her name), or at least find out where I was.  
  
But there was something I had to do first.  
  
  
  
  
  
It was raining softly by the time I reached the graveyard. I didn't know if it was the right one, but according to the map of London from the draw next to the hotel bed, it was the closest.  
  
I walked slowly through the rows of graves until I found what I was looking for. The headstone that read Lily and James Potter.  
  
I knelt down in front of it and noticed how the ground was weed free with fresh flowers in a small vase and noticing how smooth and polished the headstone was, noticing everything but the fact that only few feet below me two of my best friends lay dead.  
  
"Did you know Lily and James?"  
  
I jumped slightly and turned. Aside from the graying hair, worry lines and a slight stoop, Remus hadn't changed a bit.  
  
I nodded, resisting the temptation to go give him a hug and burst into tears, "yeah. Yeah I did."  
  
He peered at me for a moment then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't think I know you."  
  
I felt tears prick at my eyes and turned around again. I wanted to scream at him, how could he not me? Instead I said softly, "no, no you wouldn't."  
  
Remus knelt down beside me and placed a small bunch of daisies next to the roses. I figured he must have been the one keeping the grave in such good condition. "I'm Remus Lupin."  
  
I know. "Lia Strummings."  
  
"Pleased to meet you. How did you know Lily and James?"  
  
"Oh, I really only knew Lily, she and I met a year or so before she was killed." I wondered if Sirius knew how helpful his lying lessons would be.  
  
Remus nodded again. "So, Lia, what brings you to London?"  
  
"Business at Hogwarts."  
  
"Ah, so you're not a muggle. Great place Hogwarts. I used to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor there."  
  
This delighted me, I could remember Sirius and James teasing Remus about what a great professor he'd make, though I thought the subject was a bit ironic. "Really? What do you do now?"  
  
"I run a small herb shop just out of the city. You should stop in if you're ever in the area."  
  
"I might just do that." I said, then, being unable to stand the fact that Remus didn't have a clue who I was, I stood up. "I'd better be off now, can't be late"  
  
Remus nodded, though he didn't ask what I would be late for, and said, "nice meeting you Lia."  
  
Nice meeting you again Remus, "you too. Bye."  
  
  
  
  
To most people, a tiny little flat on top of a herb store would have been most unsatisfactory to live in. but to Sirius Black, it may as well have been Buckingham place. But after twelve years in Azkaban, he would have been happy with a cardboard box.  
  
Of course, life for Sirius Black was not all peaches and cream. The nightmares, for instance, continued to haunt him even now and there was that pesky matter of Lord Voldemort. There was the almost crushing worry he felt for his godson Harry and guilt he felt whenever he thought of James and Lily. And, perhaps a more trivial complaint, there was that constant nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. But all of this Sirius could live with. What he could not live with was the fact that Peter Pettigrew (the slimy little rat) was still out there somewhere.  
  
For once though, Sirius was thinking of none of these things. In fact, Sirius was almost as happy as an Azkaban excapee could be. His best friend Remus Lupin out, which meant he could eat as many ham and banana sandwiches as he wanted without Remus around to give him odd looks. His best friend was at the graveyard, tending to Lily and James' grave. Sirius had not yet been able to bring himself to visit the grave, which Remus accepted without too many questions.  
  
"Oh Padfoot, you're not eating ham and banana again are you?"  
  
Sirius grinned at his friend, surprised that he hadn't heard him come in. "I'll be thanking you to be nice to my ham and banana Moony," he looked at his watch, "you weren't gone for long. Don't tell me a bit of rain made you turn back?"  
  
Remus sat down, giving Sirius' ham and banana sandwich an odd look and said, "no, I just met a girl-"  
  
"A girl eh?"  
  
"I didn't mean it like that Padfoot. She said she was a friend of Lily and James'"  
  
"Oh," Sirius turned serious instantly. "What was her name?"  
  
"Lia Strummings."  
  
"Sounds familiar. Did you recognize her?"  
  
"Not really. She seemed familiar but I couldn't quite place where I could possibly know her from."  
  
Sirius shrugged, "maybe she was just some nutter getting her thrills out of seeing the grave of the famous Harry Potters folks."  
  
"She didn't even mention Harry. Though she did say she had business at Hogwarts."  
  
Sirius shrugged again, "doesn't really matter does it? Lots of people knew Lily and James, not just us."  
  
"Yes," Remus nodded, "yes, I suppose you're right."  
  
  
  
  
I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I had to get to into Hogwarts to find the Sabi girl, but I didn't have any idea how. The school year was starting in three days (just as long as the muggle hotel manager had his dates right and the school year still started September first), so it was far to late to even try to apply for a teaching job of any sort.  
  
It didn't help that my mind kept wandering back to my meeting with Remus. I knew none of my old friends would remember me, but it was still a bit of a shock having a good friend ask you what your name was.  
  
I'd spent the afternoon reading through old history books and daily prophet archives learning about all the stuff I'd missed when I'd been 'dead.'  
  
I decided that I would worry about how to get to Hogwarts later and first go to Diagon Ally.  
  
  
  
  
After a quick butterbeer at the leaky cauldron I was off to by new robes and a wand with the limited supply of galleons I'd found in my pocket when I'd awoken in the hotel room.  
  
Having done this I sat happily on a bench drinking a banana smoothie (at least they hadn't changed) and watching Hogwarts students go about buying there school things.  
  
It was easy to pick the first years. Even easier to pick the muggle born first years. They were the ones trying to look everywhere at once with these 'have I gone insane?' looks on there faces.  
  
Then of course there were the Slytherians who strutted about like they were gods gift to the world.  
  
The Hufflepuffs, who managed to look friendly and scared at the same time.  
  
Ravenclaws who walked with a sense of someone who knew far more then they were letting on. The exact same way Rachel used to walk.  
  
And of course the Gryffindors. You could always pick a Gryffindor (or perhaps that was because I was one...), they walked with absolute confidence and they always seemed to be looking for trouble.  
  
In fact, here came three Gryffindors now. A girl, a boy and... James? I blinked several times and noticed the boy had green eyes, not brown. It couldn't just be a coincidence, he'd have to be the famous Harry Potter.  
  
I turned back around and tried to feel, or at least look calm as he walked pass.  
  
"Who do you think the new defense against the dark arts professor will be?"  
  
"Do you think Professor Lupin will come back?"  
  
"Probably not, though I wish he would."  
  
"Yeah me too."  
  
I watched as they turned into Flourish and Botts, most likely to get their school books and smiled. He was so much like James! Though I supposed he got people telling him that all the time.  
  
I stood slowly and began to make my way to make my way out of Diagon ally, still none the wiser to how I was going to get into Hogwarts.  
  
If Rachel were there she'd most likely have some perfect solution but she wasn't and I was very much alone.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You look lost girlie," said the hotel manager when I got back.  
  
I smiled at him, "no, I'm fine."  
  
"Really? you look lost to me."  
  
I shrugged, "I know where I am, I'm in London."  
  
"Ah, but is that where you want to be?"   
  
I shrugged again and wondered why old people where always so insightful? "I'd better be off to my room now anyway, got a big day tomorrow."  
  
The hotel manager nodded, "sweet dreams."  
  
  
  
  
The next morning I awoke with a plan. This was my second chance at life and I was not going to spend it sitting around Diagon ally eating ice cream. If I couldn't get to Hogwarts I could at least get closer.  
  
I had no possessions of any kind and my money supply was growing low, but I checked out and headed for kings cross anyway. I was going to Hogsmead.  
  
  
  
  
Sirius seemed to have good days bad days and in-between days. On good days he could almost forget all the bad things and quite happily eat ham and banana. On the bad days he often didn't get out of bed, or if he did, he snapped and snarled at everything. More often were the in-between days where, although bad thoughts lingered in his mind, Sirius could put Azkaban aside and get on with things.  
  
Today was an in-between day. Much to Remus' relief, for he hated Sirius' bad days more than Sirius.  
  
"I got a letter from Dumbledor."  
  
Sirius stopped flicking throughout the weekly wand and looked up, "really?"  
  
"Yeah," Remus nodded, "the new school year starts in two days and he wanted to know if we wanted to move closer to Harry. Say, around the Hogsmead area."  
  
Sirius thought this was a very god idea, but could see a few problems. "What about the shop?"  
  
Remus grinned, "he said there's an old farm house on the outskirts for sale with a huge greenhouse that'd make a perfect store."  
  
"Problem two, what if someone recognizes me? And what about Lily and James? You won't be able to visit their grave every day.""  
  
"Well, it'd be same as here. You'd only be able to go into town as Snuffles, but around he house you'd be fine." Remus paused thinking over The other problem Sirius has stated, the said, "I think James would kill us if he knew we turned down a perfect offer because of him don't you?"  
  
Sirius smiled broadly and nodded, perhaps this would turn out to be a good day. "To Hogsmeads then."  
  
"To Hogsmead."  
  
  
  
  
"Can I help you dear?"  
  
I jumped slightly then smiled at Madam Rosemerta, who looked much older then she did last time I saw her.  
  
"Uh, yes. I was wondering if you had any available jobs?"  
  
"Why? Are you looking for one?"  
  
"Um, yes."  
  
Rosemerta smiled, "well, I'm afraid I can't pay you, but I do need a hand manning the bar and I could give you a room..."  
  
My smile grew, this was exactly what I'd been hoping for, "that'd be great, thanks."  
  
Rosemerta beamed, "no problem dear. What's your name?"  
  
"Oh," I'd forgotten she wouldn't know, "Lia. Lia Strummings."  
  
"Nice to meet you Lia. You can call me Rosemerta. Here, let me show you up to your room."  
  
  
  
  
  
The room Rosemerta showed me too was nicer than my hotel room, though not by much. But, it was clean and the bed was comfortable so it would do me fine.   
  
I woke early the next morning and Rosemerta showed me around the bar and filled me in on a few of the 'regulars.'  
  
"It'll be pretty slow today," she said to me, "with Hogwarts opening and all, so why don't you have a look around Hogsmead for a while?"  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, go on. Have fun dear."  
  
"Thanks." I grinned at Rosemerta and grabbed my cloak and the rest of my galleons.  
  
  
  
  
After carefully exploring the farm house Sirius decided he liked it. The fact that it was close to Harry gave it great appeal before he'd even been there. The green house, like Dumbledor had said, was the perfect place to set up Remus' beloved herb shop and Sirius had to admit, he loved running around Hogsmead as Snuffles.   
  
Remus came inside and stood beside Sirius, "so Padfoot, does it pass your inspection?"  
  
Sirius nodded solemnly, "it does."  
  
He didn't add that for the first time since Azkaban he felt really happy, or at least optimistic.  
  
Remus grinned, "the only problem is, we don't have enough furniture. The place still looks as though nobody's living here."  
  
Sirius laughed, something he wasn't used to doing, "trust you to find a problem Moony. C'mon, let's go to Hogsmead, I haven't seen the place for ages."  
  
Remus smirked, "ok Snuffles. Just let me get your lead."  
  
  
  
  
I sat quite contentedly outside Honeydukes devouring a large chocolate bar. It felt rather like the fifteen year old I was when I'd 'left' which was strange, because I'd been to so many unreal places since then it was like I should be feeling one hundred and fifty, not fifteen.  
  
"Lia!"  
  
The shock of hearing someone call my name was so large I actually bit my tongue and made it bleed. Cursing softly I looked up and saw Remus walking towards me with a big black dog. Sirius.  
  
"Hi Remus," I said trying to sound casual and trying not to stare at Sirius. "I didn't expect to see you hear."  
  
He shrugged and sat down next to me, "I just brought a farm house and complete with a green house slash shop." He was cut of when his 'dog' accidentally on purpose hit him in the head with it's tail. A very Sirius like thing to do. Remus laughed, "this is my dog Snuffles. He gets jealous if I talk to anyone other then him."  
  
I laughed and fought to stop myself from blurting out who I was. Not that they'd believe me anyway. "He's beautiful."  
  
"Careful," said Remus, "he already has an inflated ego."  
  
I chuckled at the truth behind his words and finished of my chocolate. "I'd better be going now anyway," I said, standing up and giving Sirius one last look.  
  
"Where are you staying?" Remus asked curiously as he too stood up clutching Snuffles' aka Sirius' lead.  
  
"The three broomsticks," I told him, "I've got a job there."  
  
Remus nodded, "I might run into you again then."  
  
"You might, if you're lucky."  
  
And once again feeling like a fifteen year old, I turned and walked back towards the three broomsticks.  
  
  
  
  
  
"My lord, excellent news."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We have found a Sabi."  
  
"What! But she is dead!"  
  
"Who is dead my lord?"  
  
"That, is none of your concern. How old is it?"  
  
"It is a she my lord. At Hogwarts, she is sixteen."  
  
"Only sixteen? Good. Does she know what she is?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then see to it that she discovers."  
  
"Yes my lord."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: See, it didn't take me too long to write did it? I would have posted it sooner but stupid fanfiction.net seems to be broken. *pokes tongue out at fanfiction.net*  
  



	2. Forgetting Lia

Disclaimer: If J.K.Rowling owns, it I don't.

Second Chances

chapter two: Forgetting Lia

Upon returning to the farm, Remus immediately went out to the greenhouse to start setting up his beloved herb shop, leaving Sirius to his thoughts.  
  
_And such troubled thought they were_. He worried about being surrounding by witches and wizards again: what if someone recognized him? And he worried, like he always did, about Harry, who was starting his fifth year that day.  
  
Actually, Sirius tried to worry about these things (lately, worrying was what he did best), but his thoughts kept drifting back to the woman he had met with Remus.  
  
What was her name? Leanna? Lia? It didn't really matter, for it was her face that stuck in his mind. He felt certain he knew her before he went to Azkaban. And perhaps he did, for Azkaban caused him to forget many things and people.  
  
Sirius pushed of thoughts of Azkaban to the back of his mind where they always lingered and went to help Remus in the greenhouse.  


  
  
"What can I get you, sir?" I asked, wondering how it was possible that Hagrid had grown even bigger since I saw him last.  
  
"I'll have none o' that 'sir' codswallop," Hagrid grinned. "Call me Hagrid. Everyone  
does."  
  
"Okay, what can I get you Hagrid?"  
  
"A large ale, if yeh please."  
  
I made Hagrid's drink, making a mental note to keep talking to him through out the night. This proved none too difficult as Hagrid ordered another Ale, and another, and another...  
  
"So, what do you do, Hagrid?" I asked, bringing him his sixth Ale, trying to bring the  
conversation around to Hogwarts.  
  
"Grounds keeper at Hogwarts," he said, then added proudly, "an' I teach Care o' Magical creatures."  
  
"Really?" I was rather surprised, but pleased. "I've always had a soft spot for magical  
creatures."  
  
"Have yeh?"  
  
I grinned, thinking, _It's too bad he has no idea. We could have **quite **the conversation. _"Oh yes. Except for maybe Griffins."  
  
Hagrid finished his Ale in one big gulp, "Yeh should come see one o' me classes," he said. "What'd yeh say yer name was?"  
  
"Lia Strummings."  
  
"Yeh should come and see one o' me classes Lia."  
  
"I'd like that."  
  
Hagrid left then, but not before promising to see me again. I felt much happier, it appeared I had found my way into Hogwarts.  


  
  
  
Sirius ate his cereal with a bit more perk than usual. Indeed, even his rice bubbles seemed to be snapping, crackling and popping more than necessary. This was a good day, and he planned to enjoy it.  
  
Remus noted his friends mood with sly satisfaction. He'd just received a large order of  
herbs and needed some help unpacking them all. 

"You're in a good mood today," commented Remus, discovering that Sirius had finished  
off the milk.  
  
Sirius did not appear to be listening, he was looking intently out of the window. "Is that  
Hedwig?"  
  
Remus turned and strained to see the three owls in the distance more clearly. "I can't tell. Could be."  
  
It was. None of the owls stayed for long; they dropped their mail and left right away,  
obviously trying to beat the approaching storm. It was no wonder, as it was apparent that it was going to be a howler.   
  
Sirius pounced on Harry's letter, leaving Remus to deal with the other two.  
  
_Dear Sirius,  
  
I'm glad to hear you're enjoying life in London, just make sure nobody sees you! I am, as usual, glad to be at Hogwarts with the Dursleys far behind me.  
  
We have another new DADA professor now, Professor Whitton. She's ok, not as good as Remus but still good. (Better than Lockhart, at least).  
  
  
I found out just this morning that Katie Bell is the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. (she is, of course, very happy about this). Let's just hope she's not a big fan of lectures like Oliver was!  
  
Well, I can hear Ron and Hermione fighting AGAIN, so I'm off to play peacemaker. Hope you are well!_

  
  
Love  
  
Harry  
  
Sirius grinned, feeling even happier now that he knew that Harry was well.  
  
Remus had discarded the first letter, (no we don't want a set of size zero brooms!), but  
treated the second with much more respect.  
  
"It's from Dumbledore," Remus informed his friend.  
  
Sirius raised a questioning eyebrow.  
  
"I managed to get hold of most of the old group," he explained, "except for Bill; he's too busy making Muggle computers. And, they've all contacted Dumbledore. They're all ready to start up the fight again, so there's a meeting at Hogwarts tomorrow."  
  
Sirius nodded and read Harry's letter again. There was no mention of Lord Voldemort or  
scar pains; of course, Harry might just be trying not to worry him.  
  
Seeing the happy mood slipping away, Remus grinned brightly and said, "C'mon, Padfoot, I need some help unpacking herbs."  
  
Sirius groaned. It was going to be a long day unpacking herbs, and with a significantly perkier-than-normal Remus, at that.  


  
"Hello again, Hagrid," I looked at my watch, "Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?"  
  
Hagrid nodded and grinned, "got a class in half an hour, yeh want to come watch?"  
  
"Go on!" called Rosemerta from the other end of the bar. "I can keep an eye on this place."  
  
I laughed and grabbed my cloak, "I guess I have no choice, then."  
  


  
"What class are you teaching?" I asked, wondering how Hagrid managed to get hold of  
one of the horseless carriages.  
  
"Fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin."  
  
I wondered if Harry took Care of Magical Creatures. I hoped he did.  
  
"What animal are the kids studying today?"  
  
"A Pegasus. I managed to get hold o' one," he said, "they're a bit moody, but mostly  
harmless. " He said this with such conviction that I had to laugh.  
  
"Do you like teaching care of magical creatures?" I asked Hagrid, thirsty to know  
everything about him.  
  
He nodded vigorously, "Yeah. But I won't be teachin' for much longer."  
  
"Oh? Why not?"  
  
"Have to leave. Special business from Dumbledore." He said this with great pride, as though every man's dream was to have special business from the Headmaster.  
  
I wanted to know what the special business was (curious cat that I am), but obviously  
Hagrid wasn't going to tell me, so I was silent for the rest of the ride.  


  
  
The Pegasus was standing outside Hagrid's hut with one dainty leg chanced the ground to prevent escape. It seemed rather irked at being held in such an undignified manner.  
  
"Well, really," it muttered, pawing the ground, "Quite unacceptable."  
  
Hagrid went inside his hut to make last minute preparations, and I sat on the grass,  
watching the unicorn curiously.  
  
As if sensing my stare, the Pegasus turned and looked into my eyes. I suddenly felt strangely compelled to set it free, almost crying tears of sorrow for those who would never see such beauty. It seemed wrong to keep such splendor chained...  
  
I forced myself to look away and break the spell. The Pegasus snorted in annoyance.  
  
"Here come the Gryffindors," Hagrid said, dropping a bag of grooming brushes on the ground.  
  
I turned around- and the first person I saw was Harry. He was flanked on either side by the girl and boy he'd been with in Hogsmeade.  
  
"Is that Harry Potter?" I asked Hagrid, wanted to make sure, even though I was certain.  
  
Hagrid nodded. "Yeah. Great kid, jus' like Lily an' James."  
  
"I knew Lily and James," I said, not taking my eyes off Harry.  
  
"Really?" Hagrid sounded like he wanted to say more, but Harry and his friends had  
entered hearing range.  
  
"Hi, Hagrid," said the girl with bushy hair, giving me a curious look.  
  
"Hello, Hermione," Hagrid replied.  
  
"Hey Hagrid," Harry and the red-headed boy chorused.

  
Hagrid greeted them both, then nodded at me. "This is Lia Strummings," he said. "She's  
gonna watch the class."  
  
Hermione, Harry, and the third boy (who's name was Ron) all said hello.  
  
By now, the other Gryffindors had arrived and I was introduced again, this time as 'Miss Strummings.' If Sirius had been there, he'd have had a field day. Provided that Sirius actually remembered me. I quickly swallowed the lump in my throat, ignoring the concerned look I got from Hermione.  
  
The Slytherins strutted over a few minutes later, and I was presented yet again, with  
much less welcoming statements.  
  
The lesson proceeded and as Hagrid went over the basic, less pleasant characteristics of Pegasuses. The Pegasus grew more and more outraged.  
  
"This is unheard of!" He half yelled half whined. "Why, my great-grandfather before  
me was the favorite steed of mighty Zeus! If he knew I was being treated in such manner, you would be strung from the highest walls in hell, forced to have you organs removed, only to be reborn and have them removed again for all eternity!"  
  
It was an impressive speech. A pity I was the only one who could hear it. Or was I? I  
scanned the students in front of me, wondering if the Sabi was among them. None of them appeared to be hearing anything out of the ordinary, and besides, hadn't the woman said the Sabi was a sixth year?

Hagrid moved on to the Pegasus' vanity, and handed out the grooming brushes to each  
student. He then proceeded to tell them to carefully brush the Pegasus's silky fur, but to avoid the wings.  
  
The Pegasus, (which was starting to remind me of Amos Diggory), began to calm itself then; indeed, he sounded almost happy. 'Yes, yes, my wondrous beauty. Glorious far beyond even the plain unicorn!"

  
I rolled my eyes and almost said something, but decided not to, as Hagrid and his pupils would most likely think I was insane. And who was I to argue with them?  
  
A bell rang, the class ended, and Hagrid and I cleaned up.  
  
"Are you going to let the Pegasus go?" I asked Hagrid, sick of hearing it threaten me with eternal pain and agony.  
  
Hagrid nodded. "Yeah. It'll probably stay in the forest for a while. Here," he passed me a key. "Will you unlock it?"  
  
I nodded and walked over to the Pegasus. "Calm down," I told it. "I'm letting you go."  
  
"Good," it sniffed, not the least bit surprised that it could understand me. "It's about  
time."  
  
I watched it fly away into the forbidden forest and waited for Hagrid to clean up. Then I  
made my way back to Hogsmeade alone, wondering why, after a trip to Hogwarts, I still had no idea who the Sabi was.  


  
  
"Sirius?"  
  
Sirius quickly jammed the remainder of his ham and banana sandwich into his mouth as  
Remus entered the kitchen. "Mmmmm?"  
  
"I'm going to Hogsmeade for some more bottles. You coming?"  
  
Sirius nodded and Remus gave him an odd look. He quickly turned into Snuffles before  
any questions could be asked.  
  
The walk to Hogsmeade was uneventful, and Sirius laid happily on the grass of Potent  
Potion supplies waiting for Remus to collect any spare bottles.  
  
A familiar scent made it's way to Sirius' doggy nose, and he jumped to his (padded) feet and look eagerly around.  
  
The woman, (_Laura? Linda? Lucinda?_ he wondered absent-mindedly. _Juliet. Juliet? Where did **that** come from?_) was climbing out of one of the Hogwarts carriages. Odd… though Remus did say that she'd told him she had business there.  
  
Sirius, without knowing why, desperately wanted to talk to (or at least hear Remus talk with) this mystery woman, so he issued three loud barks to get her attention.  
  
She saw him, grinned, and immediately made her way over to the waiting black dog.   
"Hullo, Snuffles," she said. Sirius noticed that she had the hint of an accent. _(French- Lucille? Portuguese- Lolita? Scottish- Lucy? Dutch? German?_ Poor Sirius was confusing himself._)_  
  
The door to Potent Potion Supplies opened and out came Remus, several bags of jars, and a case of bottles.  
  
"Hello Lia," he said when he saw her, "I hope Snuffles hasn't been harassing you?"

__

Lia! Sirius thought triumphantly. _I know the mystery woman's name…_  


"Not at all." Lia waved an arm towards the multiple heavy looking bags. "Do you want  
help with those?"  
  
Remus shook his head. "No, no I'm fine."  
  
Lia laughed. "Come now, you don't really think I'll let you walk all the way to your house with all those bags? Give some to me."  
  
Smart enough to know when he was beaten, Remus handed a couple of the bags to Lia, who grinned. "See? That didn't hurt your macho pride too much, did it?"

Sirius snorted, which sounded odd in doggie form. _Remus' macho pride…_  


Remus laughed and Sirius barked in doggy joy, loving to see his lycanthropic friend happy. Slowly, the three made their way to the farm house together.   
  
_This_, mused Sirius in a moment of canine thought, _is just how it's meant to be._

  
The house wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was snuggled somewhere in between the two. I immediately decided that it was a house I might like to live in one day, and then I wondered where that thought had come from. I'd gone from being fifteen and not wanting to be married to thirty and seriously considering it. It was quite the change.

"Welcome to my humble abode," said Remus grinning. He swung the door open and I  
stepped inside.  
  
There were still several unpacked boxes around the pace and dirty dishes in the sink. _Dirty dishes for two._ I pretended not to notice that, and hid my knowing grin behind a few words. "Nice place," I said, looking around. "Now I'm jealous that I didn't find it first."  
  
Remus laughed. "A friend of mine tipped me off actually."  
  
I nodded, unsure of what to say next.   
  
"Would you like a coffee?" Remus asked, I nodded, then realized I'd never had coffee  
before. I sincerely hoped it didn't taste as bad as it looked.  


  
  
Sirius the dog sat and watched Remus and Lia drink their coffee. Funnily enough, Lia  
didn't seemed to like it that much. Sirius thought this was funny, but, as a dog, Sirius  
thought many things were funny.  
  
He cocked his doggy head and listened in on the conversation around him.  
  
"Is your shop coming along well?"  
  
"Yes, it should be up in a day or so. I'm expecting you to be my first customer."  
  
A laugh. Nice laugh. "Of course, though I must say, I don't know the first thing about  
herbs."  
  
"Then I'll just have to teach you won't I? Mind you, I tried to teach Snuffles and that was a mess."  
  
"I can only imagine." More laughter. 

Sirius the dog liked laughter, even if he was the cause of it.  
  
"I'd better be going, don't want to get fired."  
  
"Quite true."  
  
Scraping of chairs, shuffling of feet. Lia was leaving. Sirius barked good-bye and, after she left, transformed back to his human (slightly saner) self.  
  
  
Many kilometers away, a young woman sat in a coffee shop drinking what people  
normally drank in coffee shops: coffee.  
  
She didn't even like the stuff, but normal people drank coffee, and she needed to feel  
normal.  
  
You couldn't tell by looking at her, but this young woman was haunted. Not by ghosts or jelly eating leprechauns, but by a face. A face with a name she could not remember. A face that didn't exist, but she had once known.  
  
If only she had a name. A label to pin on the face she couldn't forget. Then perhaps she would be a normal person. And she wouldn't have to drink a drink she hated just to  
belong.

Authors note: A tad shorter than the last part.. Oh well! Many thanks to Lone Astronomer, who beta-read this for me and came up with the title and many thanks to my science teacher who has fallen ill and can not give up homework. *evil grin*


	3. Dark Mark

Disclaimer: If J.K.Rowling owns it, I do not.

Second Chances

chapter three: Dark Mark

"You wanted to see me my lord?"

"Yes."

"The Sabi is not yet aware of her powers. We are ta-"

"I don't care about that right now. I want you to send a spy to see if someone... exists."

"Who?"

"Lia Strummings; that is, if she can be found."

"What do you want us to do if we find her?"

Remus sat at the table across from his friend, looking rather worn. "You could've come, you know."

Sirius snorted as he pictured the scene. _'Hello chaps, it's me, your old buddy Sirius Black...'_

Remus, reading the look on Sirius' face, said, "As Padfoot, Sirius."

Sirius shrugged. "Even as Padfoot, I have to wait for everyone to leave before I can say what I think. So what happened?"

Remus sighed. "Not much, to tell you the truth. Only a handful of us are left, not nearly enough to harm Voldemort. Snape is playing spy again, Hagrid and Madam Olympe are going to the giants in a few weeks, and Author Weasly's trying to talk the Ministry around. That about all, really."

If Sirius hadn't been in a bad mood before, he sure was now.

Remus, seeing this, made a hasty retreat, leaving Sirius to take his anger out on the kitchen table.

A friendly smile was just what Remus needed at that moment, and that's just what he got when he entered the three broomsticks. He sat on a stool and Rosemerta smiled again. "Hello, Remus. Lia's not here right now, I'm afraid."

"No, that's fine. I'm just here for a butterbeer."

Rosemerta got Remus his drink and went to serve other customers.

As Remus watched Rosemerta work, he thought of Lia and felt an odd tingling in the back of his mind. The same feeling he'd felt when he'd heard that Ravenclaw, Rachel something or other, had been found dead. The same thing he had felt when Ellie had left. _She hadn't even said good-bye..._

But this was not the time for such unpleasant thoughts. Remus had to be happy for two people: himself and Sirius. A very tiring job, considering Sirius' mood. At the thought of his doggy friend, Remus got up and headed home before he could destroy the whole house. 

After kicking the table several times; smashing two plates and three glasses; and hurling a screaming, protesting book across the room Sirius felt his bad mood lifting.

Sirius put down the jug he'd been about to throw out the window (much to it's relief) and starting rummaging through the few boxes that were yet to be unpacked.

After finding what he was searching for, he sat on the couch and started to flip through the pages of the photo album.

They were photos from Hogwarts. Photos of James, Lily, Remus and, Sirius scowled slightly, Peter. He looked for a long time at the one of the photos of his former friend. James had photographed him asleep on his homework. When Peter had found out, he had been quite cross. _Was that when he turned against us? _Was that when he'd decided to help Voldemort?

Sirius shook his head and turned the page to a much pleasanter photo. James, Remus, Lily, Jessie, Ellie, Hannah, himself and... And? 

There was no "and"; Sirius was at the end of the line.

Or was there someone there that he just couldn't see?

With a bag of jars in one hand and a chocolate frog in the other, I set out to Remus' house. I mean, the jars were just laying around the Three Broomsticks collecting dust, so I was doing everyone a favor by taking them to Remus', wasn't I? Right. _You're here to find the Sabi, not catch up with old friends who don't have any inkling of who you are- or were._ I pushed the annoying thought away and stepped up to Remus' door.

"You looking for me?"

I turned around and smiled. "Hi, Remus. I was just bringing you some spare jars from the Three Broomsticks."

Remus took the box from me and grinned. "Hey, thanks. The shop should be up and running in a few days."

"That's great; I'll be sure to bring you all of our spare bottles and jars."

Remus opened the door and gestured for me to step inside. "Snuffles, I'm home!"

I thought I heard a thump, undoubtedly caused by Sirius dropping something, and a few seconds later a black dog appeared, wagging its tail.

"Hello, Snuffles." I patted Sirius on the head and followed Remus into the kitchen. "What happened in here?"

Remus surveyed the broken glasses and plates with a look of annoyance, "Snuffles!"

I laughed at the look on Sirius' doggy face. "How can you be mad at him with a face like that?"

Sirius barked seemed to ask Remus, 'Yeah, how?'

"Lia, you'd better stay for dinner or Snuffles may end up dead."

Over the years, some very odd creatures had roamed the streets of Hogsmeade: from banshees to werewolves and from werewolves to vampires.

Because of this, nobody found it at all strange to see a rather scruffy-looking rat with one toe missing making it's way down Main Street. 

Of course, this was no ordinary rat, but few people knew this, so the not-so-ordinary rat was able to get about without causing any fuss or bother.

With a quick glance to the left and to the right, the rat slipped inside the Three Broomsticks without a sound. 

It was late by the time I started on the trip back to my 'house.' There was no moon, so the world around me was squid-ink black. Not that this bothered me; during the time I had been 'dead' I'd spent many months (or maybe years, I didn't keep track of time) living in complete darkness.

I hadn't thought much about the places I'd been during my death since I arrived back on Earth. In truth, I was beginning to forget.

I was pondering this as I unlocked the door to my room and stepped inside, which is probably why I didn't notice it at first.

Floating above my bed like ghost straight from hell, the Dark Mark. 

Lia's screams brought Rosemerta running. She found her young employee pale and shaking and a quick glance into her room told Rosemerta why. Before anything could be said, Lia's eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

I awoke in a room that was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. I was certain I'd never been in the room before but I knew the style. Hogwarts.

"Hello?" I sat up and decided I was in some sort of hidden chamber. No doubt Sirius knew about it.

A tapestry of a dragon hanging on the left wall swung open and in stepped Professor Dumbledore, Remus, and the dog that was Sirius.

"Lia, you're awake!" Remus gave me a friendly, but worried, smile. He waved his hand to the right. "This is Professor Dumbledore."

"Please, call me Albus."

I nodded rather stupidly, feeling confused and overall bewildered. "Uh, how did I get here?" I asked, looking around me.

"You fainted, Lia," Dumbledore explained in his ever patient way. "Madam Rosemerta alerted me right away and we brought you here, to Hogwarts. I understand you have not been here before?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right. Except the time I came to watch one of Hagrid's lessons."

Dumbledore nodded. "Ah, yes. Hagrid told me about that; he left yesterday on business."

I nodded and patted Sirius/Snuffles on the head, trying not to think of the Dark Mark. But it was though the sinister skull had set up camp in my mind. It had it's tent up and deck chair out and sure wasn't planning on leaving any time soon.

Dumbledore wasn't helping my efforts to shoo the dark mark from my mind, either. "Lia, do you remember what happened before you fainted?"

For a nanosecond I considered lying, but there was really no point trying to lie to Dumbledore. "Um, yes. I unlocked my door and the Dark Mark was floating in my room."

"Do you have any idea why the Dark Mark would be floating in your room?"

I shook my head at Remus, "Not really. I mean, I caused you-kno- uh, _Voldemort_, a bit of trouble during his last reign," _heck, my blood caused his downfall..._ "but nothing too major."

Dumbledore nodded like he believed me entirely, which I knew he didn't, and said, "Even so, Lia, Voldemort appears to have a grudge of some sort against you. I think it would be best if you stay here at Hogwarts for a few days. I'll arrange it with Rosemerta."

I nodded, trying to look happy at the news. "Okay."

A house-elf appeared to show me the way to my room, so there was no time for further discussion. Remus left with a promise to visit me the next day (and after receiving a rather dirty look from Sirius, added that he'd bring Snuffles, as well), and I gratefully collapsed into my bed without bothering to look at my new home.

It occurred to me, as I drifted into a sleep that would be riddled with Dark Marks, that I had been given a second chance to find the Sabi.

"She seemed awfully calm for someone who's just found the Dark Mark in their room, didn't she?" Remus asked Sirius upon reaching their home.

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe she's just a calm sort of person. Rosemerta did tell Dumbledore she'd been in a bad way before she fainted."

"Yeah." Remus chewed his late night snack, a rice bubble sandwich, courtesy of Sirius, thoughtfully. "Maybe she is, or was, a Death Eater."

"I don't think so," said Sirius, surprised at the conviction in his voice. "I definitely don't think so." 

Remus gave him an amused smile. "Why not?"

Sirius shrugged and avoided answering. "Doesn't she remind you of someone? I don't know, I feel like I knew her before somehow..."

"Yeah, I do," Remus agreed, turning somber as his thoughts drifted back to Ellie, who seemed to be velcro-ed to his thoughts of late.

Sirius sighed. "Anyway, I'm beat. See you in the morning, Moony."

"Good night, Padfoot."

Remus also went to bed then. His last thoughts before sleep were of Ellie Linton and Hogwarts, so it seemed inevitable that his dreams would be of times long gone. 

__

"Sirius, is something wrong?" James looked at his friend with mild concern. "You've barely said a word all day."

Sirius shrugged. "I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something important..." He struggled to describe what he'd been feeling all day.

Remus nodded. "Me, too. I guess everybody's feeling weird today." He looked to the other end of the common room where his girlfriend, Ellie, was sitting alone. "Ellie's upset about something; she's barely said two words to me all morning."

Peter said nothing, which wasn't unusual, but the almost pained statement on his face was odd. 

James waved his hand. "Don't worry 'bout it, Moony. It's probably PMS. Though, like Sirius, I just can't shake this feeling that something's not right."

"Like when you've got everything on your shopping list but you still think you're forgetting something," Remus said.

"Exactly."

Talk of odd feelings was cut short when Lily, complete with a blotchy, tear-stained face, entered the Gryffindor common room. 

"Lil," James said, jumping to his feet. "What's wrong?"

Lily took a deep, hiccup-y breath. "I just heard Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall talking. Rachel Sloan, a fifth-year like us in Ravenclaw, was found dead up in the caves around Hogsmeade. They think it was Avada Kedavra."

Sirius felt sadder than he should have. It wasn't as if he'd known her at all; he barely even knew what she looked like, let alone what she was like inside. But an annoying voice in the deepest corner of his mind kept insisting that he did. 

The news didn't really hit Remus as he was busy watching Ellie. She had obviously heard Lily's announcement and wore a look of guilt and confusion. 

She turned on her heel and left the common room. The next day she was gone.

"Wake up, Miss, Miss must wake up."

I groaned and opened my eyes slowly. Everything was gray and blurry. I blinked and realized that everything wasn't gray and blurry, I had just been looking through my eyelashes. I looked down at the waiting house-elf, who was quite cute as far as house-elves went (in a newborn puppy kind of way) and yawned. "Why do I have to get up?"

"Master has invited Miss to breakfast, in the Great Hall, Miss."

"Master?"

"Professor Dumbledore, Miss."

"All right, I'll be right down."

"Does Miss know the way?"

"Yes." It then occurred to me that as I had never been to Hogwarts I couldn't know the way. "I mean, no. Could you show me?"

The house-elf nodded and waited outside while I pulled on some robes (_How did my things get here so fast?_) and brushed my hair.

I felt stupid as I followed the house-elf (whose name was Issy), pretending I had no idea where I was going. We made it to the Great Hall in one piece and Issy raced off, leaving me to make my entrance alone.

I'd forgotten how noisy the Great Hall could be on a Monday morning. 

Dumbledore waved hello and gestured to an empty seat next to him. I sat in it, feeling much like the student I used to be.

"Morning Lia. Did you sleep well?"

"I did, thank you," I lied.

Dumbledore grinned. I'm sure he was quite aware of the mistruth of that statement. "Wonderful." Dumbledore went on to introduce me to the other members of staff (I had to struggle not to laugh when he came to Snape). To my right was the new DADA professor. She seemed vaguely familiar, but her looks were common so she could have reminded me of anyone. 

I caught sight of Harry at the Gryffindor table. He saw me and turned to say something to his friends, who also turned to look at me.

I scanned the rest of the Hall, trying to spot the Sabi. I had a better chance of finding bark in a bushfire. There were so many students, and the Sabi could have been any one of them. 

At the same time, oceans away, Tahnee Cotteslow sat staring out upon a familiar bay. Many things had changed over the years, Bum Rock not being one of them. It was still smooth in the places it had been smooth, cracked in the places it had been cracked, and looked more like a giant butt than ever.

No, Bum Rock had defiantly not changed, but everything else possible had. Her home no longer felt like her home and the only reason she stayed was because she nowhere else to go.

Now she did.

__

Stupid inner eye. 

Dumbledore insisted I stay at Hogwarts as he seemed certain I was in mortal danger (which I probably was). But he had no problems with me going to Hogsmeade for the day, and even if he did, who was he to say where I could and couldn't go? It's not like he was my father or anything. 

I sat in one of the horseless carriages thinking about the Dark Mark. The most obvious explanation was that Voldemort knew of my return. Not a pleasant thought. 

I knew that I would have to face Voldemort again. It was inevitable. He killed Rachel, he'd as good as killed my mother and Sirius' father. Heck, he'd as good as killed all of the Sabi. It seemed the pressure was on me to avenge their deaths. 

Wonderful.

Remus stood back, tired but satisfied. His herb shop was ready to be opened; the walls of the greenhouse were lined with every herb imaginable, except for one. Wolfsbane. He sighed at the thought of the full moon the following night. His transformations were no longer painful, and with Padfoot around they were almost enjoyable, but no matter which way you looked at it, he was still a werewolf and people still hated werewolves. This was a fact of life, like gray hairs and soup stains.

And, thought Remus angrily as the sound of breaking china floated from the house, moody Azkaban escapees. 

__

Sirius cursed and knelt down to pick up the broken glass. No wonder James used to call him Butterfingers Black.

"Sirius! Will you stop breaking my stuff!?"

Sirius didn't bother to answer his friend, who had been in a rather grumpy mood all day. Sirius was far happier, as he'd just received a letter from a letter from Harry:

__

Dear Sirius,

How are you? Staying out of trouble, I hope. Our first Hogsmeade visit is next week, shall I meet you in the same place as last year?

Quidditch practice has begun. Thankfully Katie isn't a fan of speeches, but she does seem to have a fetish for early morning starts. 

Well, Ron is awake and hungry, so I'm going to go to breakfast with him now. 

Be careful!

Harry

"Hey, Moony!" Sirius called, tossing the broken glass into the waste basket.

"What?" Remus answered, still busy surveying his handiwork in the herb shop.

"Let's go see Lia!"

Remus chuckled to himself. Sirius had fallen for a girl he'd never met in human form. He paused. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't really that funny. "Ok Snuffles," he conceded. "I'll get your lead."

I stepped out of the horseless carriage only to find Remus and Snuffles waiting to get in.

"Oh, hello, Lia," Remus smiled. "We were just coming to see you."

"Well, I saved you the trouble, didn't I?" I patted Snuffles and wished he wasn't a dog.

"Are you okay?" Remus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dumbledore wants me to stay at Hogwarts for a while though. I have to go tell Rosemerta I can't work for her anymore."

I guess I sounded bitter, because Remus smiled sympathetically. "Dumbledore knows what he's doing."

"Yes, of course he does."

Sirius barked as if to say, 'Cheer up.' I smiled at him and tried to oblige.

Peter couldn't understand what was so special about this Lia Strummings. His master had something of an obsession with her. When Peter has first found Voldemort deep in the jungles of Albania, he'd been insane. Rambling about Lia Strummings, blaming her for everything under the sun.

Peter had always imagined her as some great and powerful witch, but now that he had seen her, he was rather disappointed.

Still, he'd better get back and tell master the job was done.

Authors note: Thanks to Lone Astronomer who beta read for me again. Also, she informed me that some people may not know what a bushfire is. Bushfire is the Australia term for forest fire. And for all you who are waiting for the next bit to next time around, it is coming! Slowly. Hey, blame stupid never ending writers block, not me.


	4. If Only

Disclaimer: If it belongs to J.K.Rowling, it does not belong to me.

Second Chances

Chapter four: If Only

"The spies have found Lia Strummings, my lord."

"So... She is back. I suspected as much."

"She is currently at Hogwarts. Should I… arrange a fatal accident?"

"Not yet."

"Ah Lia, you're back. May I speak to you for a moment?"

I turned and Dumbledore gestured to an empty Charms classroom. I noticed it was the one that Ellie had taken me to when she'd found out I was a Sabi. I nodded, smiling slightly at the memory, then turned my attention to Dumbledore. 

Dumbledore smiled, "Lia, do you remember Hagrid's lesson?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Well, he told me how well you worked with the Pegasus, and the fact is the school is in a bit of a pickle without a Care of Magical Creatures teacher. I am asking if you would like to take Hagrid's position temporarily while he is away."

My first thought was, _I don't know the first thing about animals_! But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. It would give me a chance to find the Sabi and it would give me something to do.

"Um, sure, I guess so."

Dumbledore rubbed his hands together and grinned. "Excellent. I'll have Issy bring Hagrid's lesson plan up to you. You're next lesson won't be until Thursday. Is that all right with you?"

"Um, sure, I guess so."

"Wonderful." He walked merrily away leaving me to wonder what in heck I'd gotten myself into.

Sure enough, by the time I got back to my room, Issy the house-elf had delivered Hagrid's badly written and poorly spelled lesson plans. It took a while, but after a while I figured out what each of Hagrid's classes had and hadn't been done.

With disappointment, I noticed that the third years had covered, (along with countless animals I'd never even heard of) the only magical creature I knew anything about- unicorns. I wondered if I should go tell Dumbledor that I'd changed my mind.

I kept leafing through the numerous pages and discovered that Hagrid (bless him) had planned one or two lessons ahead for each of his classes.

My first class would be Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years: Harry's class. Hagrid had them down to study Gumbles.

Leafing through a reference book that Issy had kindly left behind, I read that a Gumble 'is a gentle, pale creature that can be squashed into any shape without being hurt at all.' Apparently they liked warm weather and were found most commonly in Australia. I remembered that when I was a kid, Tahnee and I used to squash them into jam jars and keep them as pets (until they got away). Back then, however, we used to call them Squish.

Hagrid was pretty sure there was a family of them living in the rocks around the hot springs a few miles from Hogsmeade.

I decided I should go see them. But first, I'd need to go to the kitchens for some jam jars.

Tahnee Cottleslow stepped off the Muggle plane and took her first deep breath of English air. Funny; it was just like Australian air, a bit colder maybe, but still the same. She guessed air was just air, no matter where you were.

She sighed and went to collect her things. 

The feelings were stronger here. Tahnee still couldn't decide this was a good or bad thing. If she were right, would it not prove she was sane and normal like any other witch or wizard? Or, if she was wrong, would it merely show that everybody she knew was right, that she really was insane?

There was only one way to find out. 

So it was off to Hogsmeade, to find the girl that nobody knew.

"Remus?"

Remus looked up from the morning paper. "Yes, Padfoot?"

"What do you think would go better with jam, salami or pineapple?"

"Good grief Sirius, why can't you eat like us normal people?"

"My dear Moony, I lived off tasteless white mush and, if I was lucky, an occasional rat for far to long. I think I deserve to eat whatever I want to, don't you?"

Even though his tone was light, the somber words were enough to blacken Remus' already somewhat dark mood. "Go with the salami Sirius. Just don't make me eat it."

Sirius laughed heartily (_How come he gets to be in a good mood?_ Remus thought, although he wasn't really bitter) and started to place salami slices over his jam.

Remus wrinkled his nose and stood up. "I'll leave you enjoy that on your own, Padfoot."

I hadn't been intending to walk past Remus' house, but I did and when I saw Remus tending to his garden I called out.

"Hullo, Remus."

He looked up and smiled. "Hello Lia. Out for a walk, are you?"

"Not really," I gestured at the jam jars, "I'm off to catch some Gumbles."

"Oh? Want to relive your childhood, do you?" Remus asked me with a twinkle in his eye.

"No, not really," I answered. "I'm taking over for Hagrid while he's on business."

"As Care of Magical Creatures professor?" Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Yep."

He grinned. "That's great. I didn't know you liked animals."

"Animals and I have a very intimate relationship," I stated truthfully. "Wanna help?"

"I suppose I could do with some childhood re-living. But I'd better get Snuffles first or he'll most likely kill me."

Catching Gumbles, as everyone knows, is a very delicate business. It's like fishing: one has to be motivated, resourceful and very, very patient.

Sirius was none of these things. Well, perhaps he was motivated, but this so called motivation was not focused on catching Gumbles, it was focused at scaring them away.

Not that he meant to. Snuffles the dog knew how fun Gumbles were. Next to nothing hurt them and they died only of old age and very complex curses. They were like rubber toys that lived. (_Or perhaps chew toys_, Snuffles mused.)

"Snuffles!" Lia yelled once Sirius had scared off yet another Gumble. She aimed one of her tins at the goofball dog, but he darted out of the way, grinning doggily at her.

Remus chuckled and held up his tin, which was full of a rather annoyed Gumble. "How many do you want?"

Lia rolled her eyes. "Show off."

Sirius eyed the Gumble greedily. Remus caught his look and shook his head. "Don't even consider it, Snuffles."

Snuffles barked in vague annoyance and ran off to find something else to chase.

"If it's no inconvenience, would you mind letting us go?"

I put the three Gumbles (still in their jam jars) on my bed. "Sorry guys. I'll need you for a few days, but if you promise not to run away, I'll let you out of the jars."

"That would be nice."

"Yes, that's fair."

"Very good of you."

I pulled them out one by one and watched as they returned to their normal blobby shape.

"So," I said, keeping a watchful eye to make sure they didn't make a break for it. " What are your names, anyway?"

"Happigumble. I'm three hundred in Gumble years."

"Jolligumble. I'm three hundred and twenty nine in Gumble years."

"Merrigumble. I two hundred and seventy in Gumble years"

The three Gumbles settled on my bed and looked up and me with their big unblinking eyes.

"If you don't mind telling us," said one (Happigumble?), "what's your name? And why can we understand you?"

"My name is Lia, and you can understand me because I'm a Sabi."

"Really?" They sat up with interest, "we were of the understanding that there were no Sabis left."

"Oh, there are. I'm not the only one; there's another."

"Really?"

"Yes. But I don't know who she is. She's here at Hogwarts somewhere; I just have to find her."

The Gumbles nodded wisely (why did they have to do everything in unison?) and one of them said, "We can understand why you would want to find such a person. Our friends will be very happy to know there are Sabis left."

"Uh, yes, I'm sure they would be."

One of the Gumbles nodded importantly- it looked rather like waves in the sea- and said, "My father, Cheerigumble (he was seven hundred and one in Gumble years when he died), always said Sabis still existed. If he were here, he would tell you to be careful Lia, for a Sabi's life is a dangerous one."

Well, duh.

Sirius arrived back from Gumble hunting in good spirits, unlike Remus, who was in a very bad mood indeed.

"What's wrong with you?" Sirius asked as soon as he was back in human form.

Remus raised a somewhat irritated eye brow at his friend. "What makes you think there's even anything wrong?"

"Dog intuition."

Remus shrugged. "Your dog intuition must be a bit rusty, Sirius. I'm fine."

Sirius considered making a snide comment but decided not to, at was best not to push Remus when he was grumpy. Instead, he watched his werewolf friend leave the room to go add the finishing touches to his herb shop that was opening in a few days.

Sirius had more important matters to attend to. There was a jam and salami sandwich on the counter just begging to be eaten, and who was Sirius to disagree?

Remus' problems would just have to wait.

Remus very much hated it when Sirius was right. It only added to his unfavorable mood, which was unfavorable enough already.

He had been slightly sour all day, which was understandable, as the previous night had been the first full moon. 

Even so, tinkering about with his plants was usually enough to lighten him up considerably.

Usually.

Remus realized he'd been watering the floor and sighed. There were several possible causes for his current frame of mind. Usually Sirius or You-Know-Who were the culprits.

But You-Know-Who hadn't made any appearances since his stunt at the Tri-Wizard tournament, and Sirius had been rather perky since 'meeting' Lia.

That left only one more likely cause. The one that Remus hated most. 

Ellie.

Remus had gone into a bit of a tailspin after Ellie had so suddenly left and it wasn't until the end of the year that he'd managed to pull himself slightly back together.

The main reason for this was Remus' addiction to 'what if's and 'if only's.

__

If only I'd paid more attention to her, I'd have seen it coming.

If only I'd followed her from the common room that day.

If only I hadn't have listened to Sirius and James.

If only this, if only that.

In time Sirius, James and Peter had convinced Remus that 'if only's and 'what if's were a waste of time.

Actually, it had been more Peter and James' doing, for Sirius had been preoccupied around that time. He'd been convinced that something wasn't right, that something was wrong. They all felt the same way, but Sirius more so.

It all began when that Ravenclaw died- a girl they'd never spoken to in their lives.

Understandably, I felt slightly stupid walking up to my room from the kitchen laden with bags of Brussels sprouts which, according to the Gumbles, were the best food in the world.

I turned the corner and almost ran the DADA professor down.

"Oh, sorry."

"That's all right... Lia isn't it? The new CMC professor?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid I don't remember your name..."

"Tammy Whitton."

I shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'd better be off, my Gumbles may start a rebellion if I don't get these sprouts to them soon."

She laughed and walked away, leaving me to wonder why I was sure I'd met her before.

The next few days passed without event. I spent them brushing up my magic and learning some of the spells I would've learnt in my sixth and seventh year.

Far too soon for my liking, I was waiting outside Hagrid's cabin for the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years.

Unlike the lesson with Hagrid, they arrived at the same time, griping and groaning about potions. (At least, the Gryffindors griped and groaned; the Slytherins just smirked unpleasantly).

I took a deep breath and smiled at them. "Good morning, my name is Lia Strummings. I'll be teaching you while Hagrid is away on business. You can call me Lia, or Professor Strummings, whatever takes your fancy."

A girl I recognized as Harry's friend Hermione smiled encouragingly.

I gestured to the crate at my right, in which the Gumbles were discussing Brussels sprouts and the weather. "Today, we will be taking a look at Gumbles." I opened the crate and everyone gathered around for a look.

A pale-haired Slytherin wrinkled his nose. "They look like newborn rats."

Harry's red-headed friend Ron looked at the Gumbles, then at the Slytherin, and back at the Gumbles. "That's funny, Malfoy; I don't see the resemblance."

I raised a hand to cut short the many snickers coming from the Gryffindors (though I was trying not to snicker myself).

For the rest of the lesson, I told the kids everything I knew about Gumbles and demonstrated how they could be molded into different shapes. (A Gryffindor named Dean took one and molded into a rather lifelike model of Snape, which elicited applause from the Gryffindors).

The Gumbles cached along with me through out the whole lesson and none of my students appeared to be understanding them. This didn't surprise me, as the Sabi was supposed to be a sixth year.

The lesson finished (what had I been so afraid of?), but when all the other kids left, Hermione stayed behind.

I picked up the crate and smiled at her. "Can I help you, Hermione?"

She nodded. "I was just wondering if you're from Australia. You sound like you have a slight accent."

"It used to be stronger, but I've lived in England for quite a while now."

"So you are from Australia?"

We started back towards the castle. "Yes, why do you ask?"

"Oh, I just think the Australian culture is really interesting. That's all."

"Interesting? Don't you mean odd?"

Hermione blushed and I laughed. "Don't worry, I think it's odd too. But odd can be a good thing, don't you agree?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I do. Well, I'll see you next lesson, Professor."

"Bye, Hermione."

I watched her enter the great hall and smiled to myself. Hermione reminded me of Sarah-Jane. Of course, I hadn't seen Sarah-Jane, Clar, Tahnee or anyone in Australia in over a decade. 

I didn't even want to know how long that was in Gumble years.

That evening, I took the Gumbles back to the hot springs. This exercise shouldn't have taken only five minutes. But Jolligumble told all of the other Gumbles that I was a Sabi, and I spent the next hour or so answering questions and taking advice.

Finally, I got away and started the journey home.

I paused outside of Remus and Sirius' house. A sign outside of the green house stated that the herb shop would be opening the following day.

I made a mental note and kept walking.

On the morning of the herb shop's grand opening, Remus was in much better spirits.

So was Sirius. But Sirius was always in a good mood after receiving a letter from Harry:

Dear Sirius,

Hello Padfoot, how are you? I'm fine, (even if Hermione and Ron, the paranoid twins*, are convinced I should be panicking and heading for the hills). 

Quidditch is going great. I've really been putting my Firebolt through its paces. (Malfoy's deemed his Nimbus 2001 not good enough and has splurged on a Nimbus 2002).

There's a new professor filling in for Hagrid while he's away, Professor Strummings (Hermione says she's from Australia). She's pretty nice, we learned about Gumbles and for once I have to agree with Malfoy- did I just write that? Forget it- They look like baby rats.

How are things with Remus' shop? That's opening soon, isn't it? We have a Hogsmeade visit next weekend; I'll try to get time to come and see you.

That's all the news I have for now (unless you count Snape taking twenty points from Gryffindor because Ron's dragon scales were too green as news) so until next time, I write 'be VERY careful.'

Love,

Harry.

Once he'd finished reading, Sirius laughed. "'Be careful,' indeed. He sounds like James; he was always telling me to be careful."

Remus smiled in reflection, his tone slightly bittersweet. "And you always flung some smart-ass comment back at him."

"Who, me?" Sirius grinned. "C'mon, Moony, we'd better get out to this herb shop of yours."

"Lead the way, Snuffles."

After a few months posing as a Muggle, she'd settled safely into a daily and very much Muggle routine.

Wake up and clean her Muggle apartment. (_Poky little hole_.)

Take a walk around London. (_Stupid city_.)

Buy the daily newspaper. (_Who cares if Brittany Spears had her nose done?_)

Report to her job as a hair dresser. (_That hair style would look simply marvelous on you. If you were fifty years younger_.)

Have a coffee at the café down the street. (_Coffee? Oh, you mean undiluted mud._)

Take the subway home. (_Why do subway seats always make your butt ache?_)

Take a sleeping pill and go to sleep. (_Nightmares really suck._)

Of course, her day also involved forcing away the thoughts of a face that forever lingered in her mind without a name. It involved saving all her spare change for the homeless guy living on her block, trying to make up for something. It involved pushing away the longing to rejoin the wizarding world she had left behind.

And, in the minutes before the sleeping pills took her, it involved thinking of Remus.

Authors note: I am eternally sorry for the wait. It took quite a while to write and my computer conveniently broke down. On a happier note, Merry Christmas and a happy new year, (even if I am a bit late...) Thanks go to Serina Black for the help and Lone Astronomer for beta reading.


	5. In Memory's Shadow

Disclaimer: If J.K.Rowling owns it, I don't.

Second Chances

Chapter five: In Memory's Shadow

Everybody, teachers and students, was looking forward to the Hogsmeade weekend. I woke up early so I could eat breakfast without hundreds of kids around the place (_Was I ever that noisy?_) and get to Remus' for the opening of his herb shop.

The walk was pleasant if a bit cool. I smiled to myself, when I'd first moved to England, 'a bit cool' might as well have been Arctic Breezes and Alaskan rain.

I came to the now familiar farm house and went to knock on the door before I saw Remus in the greenhouse.

I made a detour, grinning at the miss-spelled and crooked 'open' sign, undoubtedly made by Sirius, propped up outside.

"Hello, Remus," I called loudly to give warning to all Azkaban escapees before opening the door. I heard a bang, then the barking of Snuffles.

"Hello, Lia," Remus called. "Come on in."

I patted Snuffles. "So, the grand opening. Had many customers yet?"

Remus snorted. "It's seven thirty. We've been open for five minutes; it'd be safe to presume you're the first."

__

'We've'? I ignored his small slip up and scanned the crowded walls with awe. "You must have every herb ever grown in here."

He shrugged. "Almost."

"I suspect you'll be seeing a few students today. It's a Hogsmeade weekend and you know how curious they get."

Remus chuckled and, not one to be left out, Snuffles barked. "So, Lia, you going to buy anything or make chit chat all day?"

I laughed. "I'm holding you to your promise to teach me the what's what of these things. I'm not buying anything until I know what it actually is."

"Very wise of you. I personally recommend the Lotus Plant, garnered to make you relax after a hard day taming wild animals, also known as students."

"Then I'll take a jar," I grinned, "just as long as you're not scamming me."

"I'd never dream of it."

"Oh, of course not." I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from adding, _that's something Sirius would do._

I'd no sooner finished paying for my purchase when the door swung open and three now familiar students entered.

Remus' face broke into a large grin at the sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Sirius barked and almost knocked Harry off his feet.

I wondered, not for the first time, if Harry knew Sirius was innocent. I hoped he did, for his sake and for Sirius'.

"Hello, Professor," said Hermione, noticing me for the first time.

I smiled and said hello, then made a quick exit. I figured if Harry and his friends did know about Sirius, they'd want some time to catch up.

I wasn't expecting the wave of sadness that hit me, and I pushed it away before I could wonder what it meant.

Tahnee gave the three broomsticks a once over and decided she approved. Sure, it was a bit rusty around the edges, but compared to some of the rats' nests she'd holed up in over the years it was a five star hotel.

It was extremely crowded inside, full of students, stern looked people that simply had to be teachers, and other people who Tahnee quickly decided must be villagers.

She made her way to the front and was greeted by a friendly looking woman whom, judging by her happy eyes and rosy cheeks, must have been rather pretty in her youth. 

She smiled at Tahnee. "Hello, dear. What can I get you?"

Tahnee grinned back. "Actually, I'm just wondering f you have any rooms for rent? And possibly a job?"

"Sirius is looking well, isn't he?" asked Hermione, back at the castle.

Harry nodded happily. "He doesn't look anything like the man in the wanted posters now."

Ron stared down at the chess bored in front of him, half listening to the conversation and half trying to decide the best way to wipe out Hermione's knight. "Wonder what Professor Strummings was doing there?" 

"It's an herb shop, Ron; what do you think?" Hermione winced at her knight was carted away unconscious.

Ron shrugged. "Wonder what she was buying?"

"Dunno." Harry sat forward slightly. "I've been thinking about what Sirius said."

Ron snorted. "You mean what he didn't say. Every time we brought up anything even remotely connected to You-Know-Who, he changed the subject!"

Hermione nodded in agreement. "And what he did tell us, we already knew."

"I know. I was thinking about the stories he told us, about my parents."

"Oh." Ron struggled to come up with something to say. "It would've been a riot to see it first hand. I just wish I could've seen Snape's face when he realized he only had his underwear on."

Hermione grinned. "Yeah," she looked as though was going to say more (probably something along the lines of, 'we shouldn't laugh, though; they must've got into _loads_ of trouble'), but she was interrupted by Ron's triumphant, "checkmate!"

Harry blocked out the resulting argument and went back to his somewhat somber thoughts.

With end of the weekend came my next Care of Magical Creatures class, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fourth years. They were a nice bunch of kids and they seemed to like the salamanders. I was sure to give as many points as I could to Hufflepuff, whom I suspected weren't used to earning for their house, and it was rather refreshing not have Sytherins sneering up at me.

After the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs, I took the Slytherin and Gryffindor third years, then Slytherin and Gryffindor sixth years.

All in all, it was a busy day. What was discouraging was the fact that there was still no sign of the Sabi. I was beginning to wonder if maybe the woman at the jetty had got her facts muddled. Maybe the Sabi was really a ninety-year-old monk from Tibet.

Dinner that night was a rather interesting experience. Even when I was a student, Mondays had been noisy, the first day back at classes, lots to talk about. I watched all the Houses with detached amusement. Any one of them could have been me, or Sirius, or James or Lily. It was a thought that chilled me, so I excused myself and went to bed early.

Sirius could not sleep. He'd tried everything short of a Sleeping Potion. He'd even dug up Remus' old History of Magic notes, which always managed to send him into a dead sleep, even after some of his more morbid nightmares.

But tonight, all reading them for three hours straight accomplished was sending him deep into his old memories. Memories of when James wasn't dead and Peter wasn't a bad guy.

Sirius absentmindedly traced Remus' orderly notes. He didn't bother to wonder what had happened to his own notes- he did, occasionally, pay attention- for he knew that most of his things, including his beloved motorbike, had been destroyed by angry witches and wizards after he'd been arrested. 

Sirius knew his notes weren't as neat as his friends' were. His had been scrappy and the parchment had been stained with mindless doodles. Even so, he'd managed to scrape through with top marks every year, though it'd been a bit of a stretch in his fifth year.

Thinking back, Sirius couldn't come up with one good reason to explain this. He knew he'd been tired a lot that year, and he knew he'd been taken with other projects, but he didn't know what those projects were. 

As he slipped into a sort of half-sleep, vague wisps of memory wafted through Sirius' mind without meaning for almost an hour before they started to take shape.

__

Not for the first time, Sirius slipped as quietly as he could into his dorm. He was really quite tired after a night helping Lia develop her abilities.

"Where oo been?" mumbled James sleepily into his pillow.

"Nowhere. Go back to sleep." Sirius silently prayed that James would think he was dreaming, or would be too tired to pursue it.

No such luck. "You have to have been somewhere. I'm not stupid, Padfoot." He sat up, blinking at his friend. "Where've you been?"

There was nothing Sirius hated more than lying to his best friend, but if Lia was to make it past the age of twenty five, it was necessary.

"I've been stargazing with Lia." It was almost the truth. The astronomy tower had been involved...

"You've used that excuse already Black," James gave his friend a look and went back to sleep.

And as one finished, another started.

__

Sirius grinned. "Two minutes! You're getting better."

Lia yawned. "And tireder."

Rachel smiled. "Well, come on then. Let's go to bed."

Sirius rolled his eyes, trying not to feel nervous. "Yeah. We can get a whole three hours sleep."

Normally, after practice Sirius would walk Lia back to her room, but that night he slipped out while she was saying good-bye to Rachel and ran at breakneck speed all the way back to the Gryffindor common room, in an effort to beat Lia there.

He succeeded, but only just. He'd just ducked out of sight when Lia appeared and entered her dorm. Sirius waited until he heard her wake Lily, asking if she knew where the rose came from, before he went to bed.

Sirius shook his head in an effort to clear it, rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

"Did you have a rough night, Padfoot?" inquired Remus at breakfast, regarding the bags under his friends' eyes with concern.

Sirius grunted. "Yeah. Even your old HoM notes couldn't send me to sleep."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "That bad?" 

"Yeah. It was weird, I was half asleep and it was like I was dreaming. I was at Hogwarts and Lia Strummings was there. I can't really remember it, though; it was pretty vague."

"Compared to some dreams you've had, Padfoot? That's normal." Remus wondered in the back of his mind if he should worry about the fact that Sirius was dreaming about someone he'd technically never met.

"No, Moony, that wasn't the weird bit. It's weird because it didn't feel like a dream, it was more like a... I dunno, a memory."

"How could it be a memory, Padfoot?"

"I know it wasn't, it just felt like one. Oh, you got Frosties!"

Sirius' tone held a note of finality and Remus knew better than to continue the rather odd subject, so they ate their breakfast in silence until the owl post came.

Sirius snagged Hedwig's letter without a second's hesitation and Remus calmly retrieved the enveloped labeled with Dumbledore's writing.

Sirius tried to read the letter slowly, but found he'd finished it in under two minutes. So he read it again.

__

Dear Sirius,

Ron and Hermione are teasing me about writing to you, as I only saw you about three hours ago. (Come to think of it, they seem to be joining forces against me quite a bit lately...) But I'm getting off track.

I've been thinking about what you said today, (or as Ron so effectively put it, what you didn't say). I loved hearing stories about my mum and dad, but I couldn't help but notice you avoided the issue. The issue being what Voldemort is up to.

Sirius, I'm old enough to know what's going on. I need_ to know what's going on. So could you please TELL ME!_

Be careful,

Harry.

Sirius sighed, but he couldn't help smiling. Even when he was acting out of character, Harry still managed to sound exactly like James. Sweeping away the waves of nostalgia that threatened to drown him, he turned to Remus. "What's Dumbledore want?"

Remus read the letter aloud:

'_Remus and Sirius,_

I'm sorry to bother you both, but I urgently require your presence at Hogwarts. Please make your way here as soon as possible. 

Both of you.

Sincerely,

Albus.'

"My, that was a perky letter," remarked Sirius sarcastically.

Remus sighed and rubbed his temples. "Voldemort must be making a move. We'd best go then, I'll just get dressed and grab your lead."

Sirius watched him go then eyed the letter from Harry. He reluctantly decided that whatever news Dumbledore had, he'd share it with Harry. At least, he'd share _some _of it with Harry.

I was in a considerably lighter mood by the next morning. Even the grease practically dripping from Snape's nose wasn't enough to turn me off my scrambled eggs.

"Good morning, Lia," Dumbledore smiled at me. "I was wondering if I could have a word with you momentarily?"

I nodded and gulped down the remains of my eggs. "Uh, okay, sure."

I followed him outside of the hall, where the noise was muffled somewhat. 

"Lia," said Dumbledore, getting straight to the point, "I have organized a meeting. It is due to start soon after breakfast, and I would like you too attend."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "A meeting? What kind of meeting? And what about my classes?"

"Do not worry about your classes. I've already had them taken care of. The meeting is regarding the uprising of Lord Voldemort. I want you there because Voldemort obviously knows who you are, and I think it would be wise if you kept yourself up to date."

"Oh." I was entirely unsure of what to say, then I realized there was only one thing I could say. "Okay." 

Once Remus and Snuffles reached Hogwarts, their journey slowed considerably, as every student who recognized Remus stopped him for a chat about everything and anything.

"You were our best DADA professor!" Gushed a third year girl. "Well, you and Professor Whitton; she's cool."

Had Sirius been in his human form, he knew he would have had trouble stopping himself from laughing to death. And judging by the slight, almost unnoticeable red tint to Remus' cheeks, he knew this too.

Sirius settled on barking in a most jovial way, and trotted beside his friend, taking in all the wonderful and exiting and vaguely familiar smells that were Hogwarts. He liked to imagine that he could smell Prongs, Moony and (here Sirius sniffed, slightly put off of his trip down memory lane) even Wormtail, as they embarked on another adventure with him by there side.

Further thoughts could not be explored, as they'd arrived at the same hidden room they'd taken Lia to after her close encounter.

The room was empty except for a long mahogany table that hadn't been there last time Sirius had looked. Remus sat down and looked at his watch. "I guess we're early. You'd better not transform."

Sirius gave Remus the most indignant look he could muster in his dog form and chose to lounge by the door. (A benefit to being a dog; one didn't have to constantly worry about manners.)

It was about ten minutes before anybody else entered the room. A wizard and a witch stepped inside, chatting in the same way one would when they've into a friend they haven't seen for years.

Remus grinned when he saw them. "Arabella! I missed you last time; how are you?"

Sirius whined softly at the sight and smell of his two old friends. He was already regretting coming; he hated this. Having all of his old friends so near by and not even being able to say hello. Arabella gave the large black dog an odd look, as if wondering what it was doing there, but quickly turned her attention to Remus. "Remus! Hello! My, it's been far too long."

"It has," he agreed nodding.

Mundungus Fletcher grinned and slapped Arabella on the back. "Can't half blame the girl for keeping' away."

Arabella snorted at the 'girl' part. "I wanted to come, but I've been awful busy. So how's life been, Remus?"

"You know, the usual."

The newcomers sat down and Arabella cast Snuffles another look. "What's that dog doing here?"

__

I'm not a dog! Sirius thought desperately, _I'm Sirius Black, your average friendly ex-Azkabanee._

Remus smiled. "He's mine; I don't like to leave him in the house alone. He tends to destroy everything."

"He's a beauty." Mundungus said this while nodding, like he was an expert on such things. "What's his name?"

"Snuffles."

The door opened again and more assorted people stepped in, including, much to the disgust of Sirius' sensitive nose, Severus Snape.

Severus spared Sirius one nasty look before he sat down. "The headmaster will be here shortly," he said, filled with self-importance.

Sirius sniffed the air, taking in the smells of all the new people. Most of them he remembered from the days when he was a 'good guy;' though there were some new ones. There was one scent in particular that smelled familiar, but he had no idea who it belonged too. There were too many people in the room to find the owner of the familiar but not smell, so Sirius settled on letting his mind drift while he waited for Dumbledore to arrive.

Her apartment was bare and sparse of anything personal. And if it weren't for the dirty dishes constantly littering her sink, one might have thought nobody lived there at all.

The only item of interest one might find was the wooden box under her bed, carefully tucked out of sight and closed with a padlock.

The padlock was there in case she gave in to temptation. In case she broke her resolution never to retrieve the contents of the box.

But she hadn't given in. For what seemed like forever she had left the box unopened under her bed and in the furthest regions of her mind.

And here it was. In her lap, staring up at her, begging to be opened.

The padlock still held up like the day she had brought it in the Muggle store down the street, and as she had no key, there was no chance of it coming open any time soon.

Unless...

She held the wooden box above her head and let it go. It hit the ground with a crash and broke into several pieces.

With a nervous smile and trembling hands, she knelt down and sifted through the broken pieces until she found what she was looking for.

Her lifeline.

Her way back.

Her wand.

Authors note: I'm very sorry about the wait for this one. But hey, you know how writers block can be... I should have the next chapter out much sooner, because I go back to school on Monday and school is where I write the most. Thanks be to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading and to ana:) for listening to my insane rambles.


	6. Familiar Faces

Disclaimer: I own Sirius, Remus, Dumbledor and yes, even Snape. Hogwarts is mine, so is Hogsmeade. The Hogwarts express is parked in my backyard. (Yes, I am lying. A girl can dream can't she?)

Second Chances

Chapter six: Familiar Faces

"What is it, my Lord?"

"Somebody has to remember her."

"Remember who?"

"Strummings. Kill them."

"I... I'm not sure I understand, my Lord..."

"Everyone who knew her... Kill them all!"

"But, my lord, the Sabi... The boy..."

"Do it!"

Katherine Hart was described by those who knew her as an old, pleasant, good natured, completely normal woman.

And they were right, on all accounts except, perhaps, for the last. For although Katherine herself was very normal indeed, her daughter, whom everybody knew she loved very much, happened to be a witch.

Katherine hadn't seen her daughter Celia for many years, for she'd decided to travel the world and was often unreachable. Katherine didn't mind; she'd grown used to having her only child away all those years she was at boarding school. The truth was, she quite liked pottering about on her own; she'd spent her entire childhood doing just that.

She often wondered if her sister had grown up the same way.

But right now Katherine Hart was not thinking of such things, she was making her way to open the front door, as somebody was knocking.

She opened the door and two robed men let themselves in.

"Oh," she said, recognizing them as wizards. "You must be friends of Celia's..."

"Are you Katherine Hart?" asked a short man with, Katherine noticed curiously, a silver hand.

"Well, yes," she said, somewhat taken aback by his abrupt manner. "I am."

The taller of the two pulled out a wand and aimed it at her. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

__

It can't hurt, I told myself, waiting outside the Great Hall for Dumbledore to finish his breakfast. _In fact, learning more about what Voldemort is planning could be useful._

I'd managed to keep thoughts of Voldemort pretty much at bay ever since the fateful night in the cave. But now, slowly, they were beginning to leak out.

I didn't know the full story on the things Voldemort and his Death Eaters had done whilst he was in power, but I knew enough to know none of it was nice.

And I knew it was my fault.

All those people he'd killed, families he'd destroyed, Rachel's death; all because of me. 

I put on a happy face for a handful of passing Hufflepuffs, but let it drop as soon as they were out of sight. 

I knew Voldemort remembered me, and, from what the woman and the jetty had said, somebody (I hadn't the faintest idea who) else did too. An unpleasant lurch from my stomach reminded me of the Dark Mark and the fact that Voldemort more than likely knew I was back in the land of the living.

I sighed just as Dumbledore walked through the doors, smiling the smile that never seemed to leave his lips.

"Are you ready to go, Lia?" he asked me.

I nodded and followed him without a word.

Remus sighed and once again spared a look at the door, willing it open. At the last meeting, he'd been early and hadn't had to take part in the mindless small talk bubbling around him now. He felt uncomfortable being around all his old friends, knowing that most of them suspected he had been somehow involved with Voldemort during his first reign. He was, after all, the only one of the four marauders to come out untouched. If you could call left without a friend in the world for twelve years untouched.

Remus cast another glance at the door and jumped as it opened. He must have been nervous because he jumped once again as he saw Dumbledore was not alone. 

Sirius' tail began to wag the instant he smelled Lia, and she spared him a quick pat before she sat down in a seat next to Remus. He gave her a hello nod and turned his attention to Dumbledore.

"Good morning," greeted the old Headmaster. "I'm glad to see so many old and new faces here today." He paused and, having got the formalities over and done with, launched right into it. "Voldemort has, it seems, made his first move."

The mood of the room instantly changed as everybody sat forward; even Sirius stopped lounging and managed to look alert.

"Has he killed someone?" asked Arthur Weasley, elbows on the table. "There was nothing in the _Prophet_."

"I know. It occurred a few weeks ago, I have only just gotten wind of it. A Muggle in Australia was killed- the Muggles stated it was a heart attack, but I believe it could have been Avada Kedavra."

"Did the Muggle have any wizarding connections?" Remus asked, noting that Lia's hands were clenched very tightly under the table.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, yes she did. Her daughter was a witch. Has anybody heard of a Celia Hart?"

Remus heard Lia gasp and noticed she had gone quite pale. Dumbledore, too, seemed to see this. 

"Do you know her, Lia?" he asked, his face an statement of worry mingled with curiosity.

"No," Lia replied in an odd sort of voice, "I don't." 

The wizards at the table seemed to be waiting for further explanation, but when it became apparent Lia wasn't going to give them one, Dumbledore continued to talk.

"I have no idea why Voldemort would wish to kill an unimportant Muggle, though we can't be assured he had one."

There were general nods and murmurs of agreement from around the table, and the group continued to discuss possible reasons for the Muggle's death. They also shared what tidbits of information they'd collected since the last meeting concerning the Dark Lord.

Arthur Weasley rubbed his eyes tiredly with one hand, looking at the old Headmaster. "The problem is, Albus, that while you've plenty of support at the Ministry, the Minister himself is _not_ one of your supporters. It's a problem we need to plan around."

Dumbledore nodded grimly when he heard the news, which was really nothing new to him. "Voldemort could easily use Fudge's resistance to his own benefit, but we must cross that bridge when we come to it."

The meeting continued for a short while longer, but nothing came of it. Remus noted that Lia seemed eager to leave, and when the meeting adjourned, she was one of the first out of the room.

Remus shrugged to himself and went to collect Sirius, only to find that he was gone.

Why was I upset? It's not like I had any real reason to be, I hadn't seen my Aunt Kath, or Cecilia for that matter, for years.

__

But, whispered the annoying voice in my head, _why do you think Voldemort killed her?_

Tears began to leak down my cheeks, slowly at first, then faster. Aunt Kath had been the closest thing to a mother I'd ever had. In my head I cursed Voldemort, Dumbledore and everyone in between.

I jumped and spun around as something wet pushed the small of my back and nearly began crying harder.

"'Lo Snuffles," I sniffed. I wanted to through my arms around his cuddly-looking black fur, but I realized that when he transformed back to a human he'd most likely tell Remus and anyone else who knew who he was that I'd been crying over some Muggle I supposedly didn't know.

I rubbed at my eyes and stood up, smiling down at Padfoot. "Does Remus know you're out here? C'mon."

I started back to the castle, Sirius only a step behind me.

Sirius wasn't really sure why he'd followed Lia out to the lake. Sometimes the dog in him took over and did things he wouldn't normally do. 

As he trotted along behind her, he wondered why she had been crying. She had said that she didn't know the Muggle, yet she was crying. It made no sense. Maybe in his human form he'd have thought it over, but as a dog he simply couldn't be bothered with such things.

His nose twitched as the familiar scent of Remus reached him, and he barked a greeting as he saw his friend.

"Snuffles," Remus frowned slightly, "I've been looking for you. What'd you run off for?"

Lia smiled. "Don't be mad at him; he just followed me."

Remus shook his head and grinned slightly. "He's worse than a spoilt child."

Sirius seemed to sense he was past trouble and barked happily. 

Remus laughed in defeat. "I'd better take him home before he gets into any more trouble. I'll see you later, okay?"

Lia smiled. "Bye."

Later, after everybody else had left, Severus Snape sat in Dumbledore's office, waiting for the old Headmaster.

Dumbledore arrived shortly and sat down with a sigh. "How are you, Severus?"

"Fine." His answer was short and curt. Severus hated small talk more than he hated being drilled by Dumbledore and his oh-so-blue eyes.

"I know how you dislike chatting, Severus," the Headmaster smiled, "so I'll get to the point. Have you learned anything?"

Severus scowled. "I'm not exactly one of his most trusted minions you know." He paused, as if waiting for Dumbledore to say something. When the Headmaster simply waited, he went on. "I think he's gone quite mad. I mean, he was mad before, and with reason. But now… That Muggle, for example. What was the point?" Severus sighed. "And before you ask, I haven't heard anything about Potter."

Dumbledore nodded. "I'm sure you must be tired Severus."

Snape nodded, stood, and gratefully left, leaving behind a troubled old man.

__

Sirius had long ago decided that the worst day of the holidays was the last. He always seemed to spend it trying to everything one last time before school reared it's ugly head the next day.

But this_ last day was one of the more enjoyable. He sat by the lake with all of his friends. James, Remus, Peter, Lily, Ellie, Hannah, Jessie and, of course, Lia. They ate more food than they had thought possible; played mindless games that Hannah taught them, like 'I spy' and 'duck duck goose;' and just generally mucked about._

"I can't believe we have classes tomorrow," moaned Lia. "It seems a crime."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Potions. Yuck."

Remus grinned. "I bet Rachel will be pleased: no more slacking off for you, Blue." 

Lia sighed and leaned on Sirius. "Oh, bother."

Sirius watched as James threw a screaming Lily into the lake, only to be pushed in himself by Lia's powers, and silently hoped that the day would never end.

When Sirius awoke, he felt quite disorientated, faint shreds of a dream he couldn't help but feel was important floating around his brain.

The something-is-missing feeling was also back with a vengeance. Its screams for attention echoed about his mind, giving him a head ache.

He thought of Lia. She'd been crying that afternoon, after the meeting with Dumbledore. He guessed it must have been something that had been said there. Had she known the Muggle? Maybe she just had a weak stomach for death. 

He wondered why he hadn't told Remus what he'd seen. He didn't like to use his dog form for spying, but this was important. Lia had received her own personal Dark Mark, and if she knew this Muggle Voldemort had gone out of his way to kill...

Part of him felt he should go wake Remus and tell him right away, but it would be a full moon the following night and this was his friend's last chance for sleep. He'd tell him in the morning.

Maybe.

For a while, I contemplated hopping a plane to Australia and attending Aunt Kath's memorial.

But there was too much keeping me at Hogwarts: Hagrid's job, Sirius, the Sabi, and so much more. Plus the annoying little fact that I wasn't even supposed to know who Kath was.

I was getting quite good at not thinking about things. I knew it wasn't a long-term or even a very good way of dealing with them, but it worked for the time being and that was good enough for me.

I woke up the morning after the meeting determined not to think of Aunt Kath. I went to breakfast, chatted to Poppy Pomfrey about how dangerous Quidditch was and how students really shouldn't be allowed to play, and went back to my room to consult Hagrid's trusty old class notes and see what was lined up for my class of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth years.

I kind of wished I hadn't.

Stupid griffins.

Tahnee had always been an easygoing kind of gal. Most people would have been revolted at the thought of serving various human and not-so-human customers at the Three Broomsticks. 

She loved it.

There was no way she could ever be considered 'insane' here. She'd only been working for a handful of days and already she'd seen people that made her often way-out-there thoughts look quite reasonable.

She knew, of course, that she avoiding what she had originally set out to do. It was a paradox of sorts: if she was wrong, they would be justified in calling her mad; if she was right, they would still call her mad. But since when did she care what 'they' thought?

After all, Tahnee had always been an easygoing sort of gal.

Remus loved Sirius like a brother. He was his best friend and he didn't know what he'd do if he lost him again.

But he was glad he was grumping about inside because, let's face it, running an herb shop was far easier without a big black dog running about underfoot.

He heard the door open and, glad for an excuse to stop looking for the Pickled Silverthorn he suspected Snuffles might have eaten, turned to greet his customer.

She was unusual, even by wizarding standards. Tiny, sun bleached hair, at least six earrings in each ear, skin far too tanned for the cold surroundings. She grinned. "G'day."

Remus blinked, very much taken aback. Her voice was gravelly, her vowels far too long, and he really had no idea what she'd just said. He didn't see a wand anywhere, so he was pretty sure it wasn't a curse.

She seemed to sense his discomfort and her gin grew. "Hello."

"Ah," Remus was relieved to hear a word he knew, "hello. Can I help you?"

"Sure can, mate. I'm looking for some dried willow's wisp."

Remus blinked again, taking a moment to make sense of her heavily accented words. "Umm, yes, I have some drying at the moment, but it's not quite ready yet. If you come back in a few days…"

"Sounds great. 'Course, I'll need it by next Tuesdee."

More blinking.

She grinned again. "Tuesday. A week away."

"Oh, of course. It'll definitely be ready before then. Say, Friday?"

She nodded and looked around, her eyes falling on a jar of long white hair. "That unicorn's tail?"

"Yeah, it is." Remus hoped she'd asked what he thought she'd asked.

"I'm almost out; guess I'd better grab some."

She took several bundles and when Remus told her the price, she spent several minutes counting out the money. "Sorry," she said, seeing the odd look he gave her. "I'm not used to Brit. money."

"So you not from Britain, then?" Remus asked, confirming his suspicions.

She laughed, an honestly merry sound. "Isn't it obvious? Nah, I'm from the land down under."

Remus regarded her with a blank stare.

"Y'know, Australia. I'm just here to find a friend of mine. Known her since I was knee high to a grasshopper."

Remus was relieved to hear the door open; his Australian customer was leaving him very nervous.

Lia stepped inside and began to remove her coat without looking up. "Hey Remus, you got any Arutha fern? I read that's supposed to send Griffins to sleep. Stupid animals. Griffins, they should be outlawed, or at least out to-" She looked up and froze when she saw Remus' customer. 

"Tahnee."

"Lia."

Authors note: Ohhh, I took a while getting this one didn't I? Well, just 'cause I'm in a wonderful mood (and just because I want you all to keep on reading ;) ) I promise that the next chapter will keep everybody happy! (Specially all you folks pushing for Sirius to remember Lia...)


	7. I Remember

Disclaimer: If it belongs to JKR, I don't own it.

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Second Chances

Chapter seven: I remember

__

In a small town known simply as 'The Point' it was a common sight to see two young girls, one with fair hair and skin, one with dark.

They would laugh and giggle and sing and talk about nonsense things that nobody paid any attention to and they themselves wouldn't even remember.

"Hey Tahnee?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you remember me in one day?"

"Uh huh."

"Will you remember me in one week?"

"Uh huh."

"Will you remember me in one month?"

"Uh huh."

'Will remember me in one year?"

"Uh huh."

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Hey! You forgot me already!"

And they'd laugh and giggle and sing and run off, their words already forgotten.

Remus sat at the kitchen table with a rather bewildered look covering his features. Sirius sat down next to him eating a raw potato covered in either dirt or cinnamon; Remus couldn't tell.

"You shut the shop already Moony? It's still early."

Remus rubbed his temple. "Yes, but I've had a week's worth of excitement."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Well, first this woman comes in. Her hair was really blonde and she had way too many earrings and her accent and the way she talked was so strange I was battling to understand her!"

Sirius chomped his potato and wondered why the description sounded vaguely familiar. Before he could figure it out though, Remus went on.

"Anyway, she bought some stuff and as she was paying for it Lia came in and that's about where I lost track of what was going on."

"Why?"

"Well, they started screaming and jumping about in that way females seem to do and then they left. Lia left behind her coat and I've still got the other woman's things."

"They're probably just old friends."

"Probably. Still, far to much confusion for my liking."

"You taught adolescent teenagers, Moony; I'd have thought you'd be used to confusion. All those mood swings and note passing, not to mention the inability to do homework"

Remus laughed. "And I never could see the appeal in sneaking away to the astronomy tower late at night."

__

"Where've you been, Padfoot?"

"I have been many places, Wormtail old chap, how can I name just one?"

"I bet you and Lia sneaked off to the astronomy tower again, didn't you?"

Sirius blinked and the short memory (could it even be called a memory?) vanished. He shook his head in an effort to clear it and walked away, leaving Remus right back where he started: confused.

Tahnee and I talked for hours. I went first and told her everything, starting from my first day of Hogwarts, right up to walking into Remus' shop and seeing her standing there.

"I don't think I'm remembering everything," I told her. "I wrote it down, but I don't know where I put it." 

Then it was her turn. "It was weird, you know how I get those feelings, that something is wrong?"

"Your inner eye?" I teased, impossibly glad to be teasing Tahnee again.

"Yes, you cynic, my inner eye. Anyway, I was in detention, I don't remember what I did, and I got one of my feelings. I'd been getting them for a few weeks, I think I told you about it in a letter, but this was the strongest, it nearly knocked me off my feet. So I raced up to my dorm and found Nona sitting on my desk with a letter from you."

She pulled an old piece of paper from her pocket that had obviously been folded and re-folded many times and passed it to me.

__

Dear Tahnee,  
  
This is most probably the last letter I'm ever going to write to you. You remember when we were kids and we promised each other that whoever died first, would make sure they'd say good-bye to the other before they went, no matter what? Well, this is it. I'm saying goodbye. Because I am going to die; I don't know when exactly, but soon. I hope you get a better go at life then me, Tahnee dear.  
  
love forever  
  
Lia.

I grinned. "Slightly melodramatic, isn't it?"

Tahnee shook her head. "Yeah, well I was nearly frantic when I read it. My guts where churning and my legs were shaking; I just wanted to crawl under my bed and cry, you know what I'm saying?"

I nodded.

"Anyway, Clar and Sarah-Jane came in, and Sara-Jane asked me what was wrong and I said, 'something's the matter with Lia.' She looked at me and said, 'who?' I thought she was joking, and I didn't have time for jokes. So I quickly wrote a letter to you and sent it off with Nona. A few days later she brought it back."

Tahnee sighed. "God, it was awful! Everybody I spoke to had no idea who you were. Even Celia! I read through the student files and there was no record of you even going to Ombigono and on the holidays I broke into your house and your room was empty! Everybody thought I'd gone insane; Mother sent me to heaps of therapists and what have you, Muggle and wizard ones. Fat lot of help that turned out to be. In the end, I left and hitched around Australia and saved up enough money so I could fly here and try to finally get some answers. I really didn't think I'd find you."

I tried not to think of the hell Tahnee must have gone through and said, "I wonder how you can remember me. Though I'm glad you do."

"Yeah, me too. It have been easier if you would've just told me what was going on then and not now!"

She threw a pillow at my head and I forgot that I was a woman of thirty five and became fifteen again.

After the excitement and elation of meeting Tahnee again and being able to talk to somebody about everything, turning my attention back to work seemed like a crime.

Especially since Hagrid's class noted clearly noted that his sixth year Ravenclaw / Hufflepuffs were due for their lesson on griffins. Tahnee went with me to catch one. Since our chaotic reunion we'd spent as much time together as possible, and she was eager to see a real griffin. I personally thought only an idiot would want to see a real griffin. But that's just me.

I decided we should check out the Forbidden Forest first, as that's were I'd found the only griffin I'd ever seen. Tahnee was delighted at the prospect of meeting so many mean and nasty animals. I'd forgotten how twisted she could be.

"Have you ever been in here before?" she asked, standing on her tiptoes and looking about, probably trying to catch a glimpse of a Neptune Human Trap or something equally lethal.

"Yeah, twice. Both times ended with screaming and terror."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

I lit up my wand and Tahnee did the same. Together we moved along the winding and sometimes non-existent path.

"Lia, what exactly are we looking for?"

"A griffin."

"Well, yes, but how do we find one?"

"I don't know. Hagrid's notes didn't say. The only griffin I've ever seen was here, and he won't still be here because he's dead."

"Well, say we find one, we don't want to kill it right? So what do we do?"

"Hagrid was planning to have his dog Fang catch one, then put it in chains. But he had written down a verse, he said that if you recite it in the presence of a griffin, he will have to grant you one request, but the griffin has to be able to understand you. Enter me."

"Fair enough. But what if it doesn't work?"

"We kill it. A dead griffin is the best griffin if you ask me."

__

"That wasn't very nice."

I shrugged, "who cares about nice?"

Tahnee gave me an odd look. "What?"

"I said, who cares abo-"

"I know what you said, but why did you say it?"

"What do you mean...." I trailed off and looked around me. "I think we've found our griffin."

"Really? Where?" She looked about and I signaled for her to be quiet.

__

"You are a strange one. I hear your words and you hear mine. Odd."

"Yeah, real strange. Are you going to hide all day, or do I actually get to see you?"

The bushes gave a rustle and the griffin stepped majestically into view. 

Tahnee gasped. "My God, he's beautiful!"

I resisted the urge to run, or scream, or the kill the damn thing and held my wand steadily in front of me. "Don't kill me, I'm in Gryffindor."

The griffin inspected me, _"Yes. You are of the griffin. But your friend, she is not of the four."_

"No."

__

"Then she is not an enemy, nor is she a friend. I will kill her."

I jumped in front of Tahnee. "No, you won't."

__

"I don't think you are in the position to stop me, strange one." It took a few menacing steps towards Tahnee and I acted. I focused on my friend and put my long unused powers to work. Tahnee gave a startled cry and rose out of reach of the griffin. The griffin growled and I quickly recalled the verse Hagrid had jotted down in his notes.

"Of the griffin do I ask 

Naught but to fulfill my task.

Of the griffin I demand

One labor 'til he free may stand."

I swear the griffin scowled; he was definitely giving me the evil eye as I lowered Tahnee back to the ground. _"Very well, strange one. But remember, you can only command me once, request wisely."_

Ron sat thoughtfully in the common room, pondering the greatest mystery of his life. Which did he hate more: Draco Malfoy or homework? Normally, he would be inclined to answer Malfoy everytime, but that was before Snape had seen fit to assign them a one thousand word essay on memory potions. He wasn't even sure they'd done memory potions. And to add insult to injury, Hermione was somewhere that was else, and unable to help him.

"Honestly," he complained to Harry, who was having as much trouble as he was, "what right does she have anyway? Gallivanting around the place when she's needed here."

"You are talking about Hermione, right?"

"Yes!"

Harry looked ready to say something, but before he could the portrait hole swung open and the aforementioned girl stepped through.

"Where have you been?"

Hermione sat down next to Harry. "I've been in the library, Ron."

__

Why doesn't that surprise me? "Were you doing the potions essay? And if you were, can I copy it?"

Hermione shook her head. "I did that essay weeks ago, and no you may not copy it. I was just getting out a book to read in my spare time." She reached down into her book bag and dropped a large book on top of Ron's work with a thump.

Harry lent over and read the title. "A Brief Overview of Magical Sub-Humans. Uh... Sounds interesting."

Ron snorted and Hermione ignored him. "Oh, it is! There's a really large section on werewolves you might like to read, and one on Sabi, too."

Ron sighed. "That's all well and good, but can you help me with my essay now?"

Hermione moved her book so she could help Ron, and Harry picked up it up and began thumbing through.

I liked teaching the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They generally got along, so there was none of subtle (or non-subtle, in some cases) remarks you tended to hear when the Gryffindors and Slytherins got together. 

They arrived together and on time, and gave the rather sour-looking griffin standing by my side curious looks.

"Hello everyone," I smiled. "Have a seat."

We all sat on the grass (desks and chairs don't go well outside) and a Hufflepuff girl raised her hand.

"Yes, Tiffany?"

"Is that a griffin?"

I nodded.

"Aren't they kind of... dangerous?"

"Normally yes, but don't worry. This lil' cutie wouldn't hurt a fly," I smirked at the griffin and patted him on the side. "Would you?"

__

"You will pay for humiliating me, strange one!"

I rolled my eyes and turned attention back to my class. "Like I have already said, this is a griffin. Most griffins are very dangerous, so I wouldn't go looking for one, but there are charms to ensure they behave."

The lesson continued, and the only unpleasantness came from the direction of the griffin, who assured me I was going to die a slow and painful death when we met again.

I was shivering in my boots.

After the lesson I gladly sent the griffin on his not-so-merry way, and made my way back to the castle. I was on my way to the Great Hall for dinner when I was knocked over by Hermione Granger, who hadn't seen me coming on a account of the large book her nose had been buried in.

"I'm sorry, Professor; I wasn't watching where I was going!"

I smiled at her and retrieved her book. "That's quite all right, Hermione. 'A Brief Overview of Magical Sub-Humans.' Interesting choice of reading."

Hermione took the book. "It really is interesting. I'm reading a section on Sabi, and it's really very intriguing!" She paused. "Do you believe there are still some out there?"

"Sabi?"

"Yeah."

I smiled. "I think anything's possible Hermione. Now let's hurry, before we miss dinner all together."

Sirius sat at the table, enjoying the last of the jam on his toast, waiting for the post to arrive. He was due for a letter from Harry and if he didn't get one, people would be hurt. Well, maybe not, but the jam toast didn't stand a chance.

"Morning, Padfoot," Remus sat down at the table. "You're up early. It's mail day, isn't it?"

Sirius nodded, casting another look in the direction of the window. "Here it comes now."

Ten minutes later, two owls flew through the window, one of which was Hedwig.

Sirius snatched up Hedwig's letter immediately and tore into it.

__

Dear Snuffles,

How are you? Things are good here; still no sign from Voldemort, at least none that I've seen. Do you know anything?

Ron and Hermione fight constantly. Or at least, Ron tries to fight constantly. Hermione won't have a bar of it.

How's Professor Lupin? Is his store going well? I hope you're being extra careful, with all those people who must be hanging around, buying herbs and such.

I'd better go, I have Quidditch practice in five minutes. The first game's only a few weeks away. I can't wait!

love, 

Harry.

Sirius sighed, feeling a renewed feeling of worry and love for his godson, and turned to Remus. "Who's the other letter from?"

Remus re-folded the parchment he'd been reading. "My father. He's in London for a few days and wants me to go see him."

Sirius grinned at the thought of unlimited ham and banana sandwiches. "When do you leave?"

Remus sighed. "I'm not sure I should. I can't really afford to close the shop for a few days, and I might attract some attention dragging a big black dog all over London."

"I'm a big boy, Moony; you can leave me here. No big parties, I promise. And it wouldn't hurt to close the shop; how often do you get to see your dad?"

"All right already, you've convinced me. I'll go this afternoon. Just promise me you won't leave the house."

"You have my word." Sirius grinned. "I think."

"Sirius!"  
"Ok, ok. I will not leave the house. How long will you be gone for?"

"Not long. I'll catch the train home tomorrow night. Think you can look after yourself for that long?"

"I'll try."

Remus rolled his eyes and reached for the jar of jam.

After classes finished for the day, I decided to visit Remus and pick up my jacket that I'd left there after seeing Tahnee. I stopped in at the Three Broomsticks on my way. 

"Hi," I said, sitting on a stool, watching Tahnee wash and wipe glasses.

"Hey," she said grinning, "come to buy a drink? I'm bored."

"No, sorry; just popped in to say hello. I'm going to visit Remus and Snuffles."

"Remus... One of your old friends from Hogwarts?"

"Yeah."

"Who's Snuffles?"

"His dog." 

She nodded. "I've been meaning to ask you... Have you heard what Sirius did?" She looked and sounded like she was talking around a large lump in her throat.

I nodded, wondering if I should tell her the true story. I decided to think it over.

Tahnee sighed. "I was so shocked when I heard. I mean, I was glad You-Know-Who was dead, but Sirius? I never saw it coming."

I shrugged, and searched my mind for a change of subject. "Did you know," I said, "I used to work here?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, when I first arrived back."

"Then how did you end up teaching?"

After I explained the whole story, Tahnee shook her head. "A Dark Mark? Intense."

I nodded. "While we're on this subject, what happened to the old gang, Sarah-Jane and Clar and even Celia?"

Tahnee sighed. "I kind of lost touch with everyone after I supposedly went insane. But last I heard Sarah-Jane was married with a little girl and Celia was traveling the world. And Clar..." Tahnee sighed again and put down the glass. "She was killed, in the first year of Voldemort's reign."

I shook my head, strangely devoid of emotion. Just another death I'd caused. Tahnee gripped my shoulder, "It's not your fault, Lia; none of this is."

I shrugged and stood up. "See you later, Tahnz."

I headed in the direction of Remus' house, wondering why I couldn't cry.

Sirius watched Remus Disapparate and was visited by the unwelcome memory of his father leaving for the last time when he was a kid. Somehow, Sirius found himself in his room, going through the box of his things he'd managed to salvage after Azkaban. Deep down in the bottom, stashed away where they were liable to be lost, was a small bundle of photos.

The first was of his mother and father on their wedding day, the next was Sirius and his mother on Sirius' first day at a Muggle school. He kept sorting through various photographs until he found one that made him stopped. It was of his father, during his school days. He was standing with his arms around a girl who looked familiar. A pitcher of water floated above her head, threatening to tip. His grin was not unlike Sirius' own when he was up to no good. 

I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. When I got none, I knocked again. I figured Remus and Sirius where out, but I didn't see the harm of just quickly popping in and grabbing my coat. It was probably in the hall and if not, I would just go home.

If Clar had of been there she would have gone in without thinking and not left until she had what she was looking for.

But Clar wasn't there.

I pushed open the door, and sure enough, my coat hung over a chair in the hall. I grabbed it and turned to leave, but curiosity got the better of me.

Sirius' bed at Hogwarts was always a mess; I wondered if his room was the same. It wouldn't hurt anyone if I had a quick look. I wouldn't touch anything...

Sirius wasn't sure of how long he stared at the photo, but he figured it must have been a while because his legs stared to cramp and his stomach started to grumble. He stood up, wincing as his knees cracked and made for the door. He opened it and came face to face with Lia Strummings.

Sirius jumped and he thought fast for something to say. For the first time in his life, he came up with nothing.

Lia looked him in the eye, not with the fear and hatred he would have expected, but with sadness. She looked down at the photo in his hand.

"That's my mum."

Sirius' hands began to shake, looking at the woman in front of him. "I remember."

Authors note: Are you all happy now? Will you stop bugging me? *grins* The next part will be out as soon as my muse allows it to be written. It's school holidays now, so it shouldn't take too long.


	8. Another

Disclaimer: I own nought what JKR does.

Second Chances

Chapter eight: Another

__

"Have you found them yet?"

"Found who?"

"The person who remembers her!"

"Not yet, my lord."

"Fools. All of you."

"I... We... I'm sorry, my lord."

"I want to arrange for them to meet."

"Why, my lord?"

"Do it!"

I fled Sirius' house. I ran like a coward and didn't stop running until I reached the waiting horseless carriages, and even then I ran up to my room. I was out of shape, and the running gave me a stitch in my side and a cramp in my leg, but I didn't care. I didn't care about finding the Sabi, or about all the people who'd died because of me. I didn't care about Voldemort and his Dark Marks or about the stinky little rat known as Wormtail. I didn't care about anything.

Except Sirius.

I'd convinced myself that I didn't miss him. That I could contend with knowing him only as a dog, not caring if I ever spoke to him again, but seeing Sirius as a human, even if he was too thin and his eyes were to dark, was too much. 

I missed him.

__

Sabi are very powerful sub-humans. They can lift objects using only the power of their minds, communicate with all magical animals, and melt stone with their glare, but perhaps the most unique thing about a Sabi is his blood. A Sabi's blood is the most powerful when the Sabi has learned how to master his or her abilities. Other than making a person immortal, it can also heal and protect. A Sabi's powers will usually begin to develop during or after puberty.

Hermione put the book down. She'd read the text over and over, trying to help her friend by doing what she did best: researching. But all of the seventeen point four books in the library about, or at least mentioning, Sabi, said the exact same thing. No detail! How was she expected to be sure if there was no detail?

"Hermione?"

She looked up, trying not to appear irritated at the interrupted (it would only egg him on), "Yes, Ron?"

"It's really, really, really late. Are you ever going to bed?"

"If it's so late, then why are you up?"

"A boy's got to pee, you know."

"You can do that upstairs, Ron."

He shrugged and began walking away. "Yeah, well, go to bed, Herm; you'll be too tired to live up to your know-it-all reputation tomorrow."

Hermione sighed and put the book down. For once, Ron Weasley had a point.

London.

Not her favorite place in the world. There were just too many people. Of course, she'd still feel crowded in a library on a Friday night. Still, she was not in the least sad to be saying good-bye to the smoggy skies and busy streets.

That wasn't to say she was glad to be going back to Hogsmeade. 

During the school term, when it wasn't needed to cart students around the countryside, the Hogwarts Express made daily trips to Hogsmeade and back for those who didn't want to Apparate or fly.

She felt a strange sense of déjà vu passing the border between the Muggle and wizarding worlds. How many times had she made that trip with her friends?

She bought her ticket with a few hours to spare and sat down to wait.

She was good at waiting.

At Hogwarts, Sirius Black was a carefree boy, not prone to worry. (well, maybe there was slight worry when Filch had cornered him and James in the great hall, but he couldn't be sure) and he never, ever, questioned his sanity. 

Now, not all that many years later, he sat at his kitchen table in a full-blown state of paranoia and very much convinced that he'd finally cracked. Lia Strummings had seen him. In Remus' house. What sort of trouble would that put Remus in if she told the wrong people? Perhaps he'd be lucky, perhaps she'd go to Dumbledore first, and the Headmaster would explain everything...

Somehow, (though he didn't see any way it could be possible), he knew that Lia wouldn't purposely do anything to get him into trouble. But he also (again impossibly) knew that if someone asked her about him, she wouldn't lie. She couldn't lie. 

Sirius thumped his head with his fist. How could he know these things? He'd known Lia Strummings for barely a month. He hadn't even spoken to her before! How could he conceivably know that her middle name was Juliet or that her favorite color was purple?

It was madness! Sirius wasn't psychic. He had no inner eye (or, if he did, it was incredibly lazy); the only way he got to know people was the normal way: he spoke to them once in a while. Sirius had never spoken to Lia before. Ever. Yet, he seemed to know every detail of her life.

Sirius sighed and tried to think rationally. Maybe he had been friends with her, before Azkaban. He'd forgotten loads of people since then. But he seemed to know her so well...

But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that the feeling, the constant nagging worry of something not quite adding up, was gone.

Everything was right again.

Remus could feel it coming. The full moon. He wondered if his father had asked him to visit so close to the date on purpose. He'd always lived in a state of constant denial, going to great lengths to convince himself that his son was not a werewolf. He often acted as though Remus chose to become a monster every month.

Remus had learned to ignore it as he got older, but it still annoyed him somewhat, and he could only take his father in small doses before he started to get quite grumpy.

Besides, he didn't trust Sirius alone for more than a night.

For his whole visit he played the part of the good son, not once mentioning his curse and gladly said good-bye to his father when it was time to go.

As a result of busy London traffic and a chatty taxi driver, Remus arrived at Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters as the train was preparing to leave and made it on with seconds to spare. 

Reflexively, he made his way to the compartment he'd sat in every year during his Hogwarts days, and even afterwards as a teacher. He looked around it, smiling softly.

There were Lily and James' names engraved in a heart on the back of the chair in front of him; Sirius had written it there before they'd started going out, causing much embarrassment.

There was the dent in the roof where Peter's head had hit it after James and Sirius had 'accidentally' put a bouncing charm on him.

And there was a stain on one of the chairs in front of him, where Lia had spilled...

Remus shook his head and decided he was either tired or just getting old. Lily had spilled the Raspberry squash, not Lia. Lia hadn't even gone to Hogwarts.

I wanted nothing more than to go straight to Tahnee and pour out the whole sorry tale, but to do that, I'd also have to tell her the truth behind Sirius' past, and it was really not my place to do so.

My mind replayed the words he'd uttered before I fled over and over. 

__

I remember. I remember. I remember.

He remembered what? Did he remember what he had for breakfast? Did he remember his name? Or did he remember me?

I knew I needed to do something. Sirius would tell Remus I'd seen him. They'd expect me to go screaming all the way to the Minister of Magic. The best thing to do would be to go to Dumbledore; he'd explain the whole story to me, I'd pretend to have a hard time believing him but in the end accept it and all would be peachy.

__

I remember. I remember. I remember.

Ron clutched his chest and gasped for breath, trying to get air into his poor starved lungs and still his beating heart. "Hermione," he gasped, staggering to the floor, "you're... You're reading!"

Hermione gave him a withering glare, not at all impressed with his sarcastic act. 

Ron ignored her evil eye and grinned. "I just saw Ginny. She says she won't be able to talk to you at dinner because she got detention in DADA. George and Fred will be proud."

Hermione sighed and went back to her book.

She was interrupted when Harry stepped over Ron and sat down next to her. "What are you reading?"

"Oh... Just some books on Sabi. Nothing you'd find interesting."

Ron climbed to his feet. "What's so interesting about Sabi, anyway? They're just a bunch of dead people."

"How do you know they're dead Ron? Some people say there's still one left..."

"Yeah, and some people eat broccoli willingly. If there were one left, they'd have owned up a long time ago. And You-Know-Who would've used them or killed them, and possibly both."

Hermione looked like she did when she was holding back important information, but before Ron and Harry could start trying to get it out of her, she made a well-timed escape.

Ron shook his head and gave Harry a despairing look. "I'll never get it."

"Get what? Hermione?"

"Not just Hermione! All of them!"

"'Them'?"

"Females! They're far too confusing. Someone should write an instruction manual to go with them."

__

And while they're at it, Harry thought, _they can write one to go with Voldemort. _He didn't get it, either. This time last year, Harry was already in the thick of Voldemort's scheming, but so far, there hadn't been a peep.

There hadn't been a peep, unless of course Sirius and Dumbledore and whoever else that knew things were hiding information from him. It would have been stupid of them if they were, because the way Harry saw it, the more he knew, the safer he'd be.

Though if that theory was true, he was about as safe as a snowflake in hell, because he knew nothing. 

He'd had no dreams, no scar pains, his DADA teacher seemed normal (at least she didn't have a glass eye) and nobody had died, gone insane or been the victim of a nasty curse, (save Nevville, whom Draco had caught alone in a teacher-less corridor).

Maybe Voldemort's plan was to send him insane with worry. If that was it, then it was working.

It wasn't fair. It didn't matter which angle she looked at it from; it still wasn't fair. All she'd done was accidentally drop her book on Caleb Downing's head and stupid, unfair Professor Whitton had given her detention. Detention! She'd never gotten a detention before. She didn't need to; Fred and George got enough for the whole family. It just wasn't fair.

Hermione walked quickly towards the library, not at all watching were she was going. She rounded a corner at the same as the gods of bad luck decided they absolutely hated her, thus she walked into professor Snape, knocking him over. 

"Granger," he snarled, "detention!"

Hermione grumbles and collected up her book, _Ron is going to have a feild day._

The train ride went much too quickly. She'd have liked it to drag on slowly, giving her time to think up a good excuse to simply run back to London with her tail firmly between her legs.

But on account of her not coming up with the aforementioned excuse, she found herself getting off the train, collecting her luggage and trying to remember where the Three Broomsticks was.

She sighed, cursing the moment she had decided to come back, and cursing again as she realized she'd dropped her duffel bag somewhere at the station and would have to go back and find it.

Or maybe not.

"Excuse me! Miss? You dropped your bag..."

She turned to thank the stranger, but the words of gratitude froze in her throat. "Remus...?"

His face showed no sign of any emotion, but his eyes...

"Hello, Ellie." 

He put the duffel bag in her hand and turned to start walking away.

"Remus," she reached out and put her hand on his arm to stop him, "please..."

He shook her arm off, anger and hurt evident all over his face, "don't talk to me. Just, don't."

She stood there until she could see him no longer, then with a sigh that was more of a sob, turned and walked away.

Sirius waited anxiously for Remus to arrive home. Remus would know what to do, Remus would keep him from jail; Remus would use calm and rational logic to assure him he wasn't insane. Yes, as soon and Remus got back, everything would be all right.

He passed around the kitchen in the same manner of a small child as they wait for mommy or daddy to come turn on the lights and prove that there is no greedy monster hiding hungrily under the bed.

Finally, the sound of the old door creaking open alerted Sirius to the fact that Remus was home.

"Moony!" He ran out into the hall and started when he saw his friends rather stunned face, "Moony... Are you all right?"

Remus blinked. "What? Oh, yes. I just..." He paused. "I just saw somebody I knew."

"Who? No, wait, don't tell me; something happened here..."

Remus groaned. "What did you do, Padfoot?"

"I didn't do anything! It's her fault! She didn't even knock! Well, I don't think she knocked..."

"Padfoot!"

"It's Lia," Sirius said, not calming down in the slightest. "She saw me."

"Saw you... You mean, as a human?"

"Yeah."

Remus groaned again. "Crap. Sirius, when?"

"Yesterday. I don't think she's told anyone... I haven't been attacked by any Dementors. Obviously."

Remus rubbed his temples, cursing whomever it was that decided to pile all of this onto to him at once. Before he could figure out any reasonable plan, Dumbledore appeared by his side, scaring him half to death.

"Remus, Sirius," he nodded to them in turn, "how are you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I just spoke with a colleague of mine, I believe you both know Lia Strummings?"

Both men nodded.

"Do you know why I am here?"

Again they nodded, and Sirius felt just like he did in his seventh year when Dumbledore caught him and his three Marauder companions charming the chairs at the Slytherin table to repel Slytherins.

"I cannot stress how lucky you are, Sirius, that Lia came to me and not a Ministry official."

Sirius felt guilty. "I know, Professor. What did you tell her?"

"The truth, though I left out the part about you being an Animagus. I believe she can be trusted with what I told her; the fact that she first came to me is a good indication of that."

Dumbledore stayed for a while longer, reminding Sirius to be careful and drinking a cup of tea. When he left, Remus turned to Sirius, the anger evident in his eyes.

"Moony, before you get mad and start yelli-"

"Mad? Mad! Gee, Sirius, why on Earth would I be mad?"

Sirius winced and quickly tried to decide what he could say that wouldn't result in more yelling. It appeared, however, that Remus wasn't at all interesting in hearing Sirius say anything, as he just went right on shouting. 

"Did it ever occur to you Sirius, that if you get caught, it's not just you getting up close and personal with a Dementor, but quite possibly me, too?"

Sirius felt his old temper flare up. "No Remus, the thought never bloody occurred to me!" he returned, voice laced with sarcasm. "I didn't know she was here! It's not like I went looking for her!"

His werewolf friend sighed, and in normal Remus fashion, he lost all of his anger as quickly as he had gained it.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, really. I know it wasn't your fault, and it turned out alright in the end, didn't it?"

Sirius shook his head, feeling his anger flow away. "You change moods faster than underwear, Moony." He wondered briefly if he should tell Remus the rest of the Lia story, and decided against it, as Remus seemed quite preoccupied. "How was London?"

"London? Oh, London was fine. You won't believe who I saw at the Hogsmeade station, though."

Sirius grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen table and took a large bite. "Who?"

He sighed again. "None other than Ellie Lewis."

Sirius choked on his apple and Remus waiting patiently for him to stop coughing and spluttering. "Ellie Lewis? From Hogwarts? You must be joking! Are you sure?"

"Yes, Padfoot, I'm sure."

"What'd she say, what'd you say? God, where did she go? Why did she go? Why is she back?"

"Can we keep to one question at a time? And I didn't stick around for any form of discussion."

"Didn't you? God, if I were you, I'd have talked her ears off! Well, barked it off anyway..."

Remus smiled softly and subtly changed the subject. "Yeah, well at least you can have a good chat with Lia now."

"Yeah..." Sirius again pondered how he could know half of the things he knew about Lia.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

"You're asking me if I'm alright? I'm not the one you just came face to face with my long lost love for the first time in years!" 

Remus rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, Padfoot. Try not to get yourself caught while I'm sleeping, ok?"

Sirius threw a pillow at his retreating back and went back to trying to convince himself of his sanity.

"Professor Strummings!"

I stopped counting Nifflers, not that I was really counting them; I'd get up to ten and my thoughts would drift, causing me to loose count. "Please, call me Lia."

Tammy Whitton, the DADA professor I'd spoken to less than a handful of times, smiled. "Okay, Lia. I just ran into Professor Dumbledore; a handful of students have detention and he wanted me to ask you if you'd take them into the Forbidden Forest."

"What for?"

"Oh, nothing big, just to collect herbs and things. More to scare them than anything else. They used to send the students alone, but now a professor goes with them. And you are the COMC professor."

I shrugged, too preoccupied with thoughts of Sirius to realize what a stupid idea my setting foot in that forest ever again was. "I don't see why not."

She smiled. "Great. Filch will take them to the edge of the forest at around seven; you'll take them from there."

I bid Tammy good-bye and went back to not really counting Nifflers.

Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley were not the kind of girls you'd expect to find in detention, a fact which they were mercilessly chided about by their friends as they left there warm comfortable common room for the not so warm not so comfortable Forbidden Forest.

Hermione was the only one of the two ever to have been there before, but that was not to say she was any less nervous. And, though she had nothing against Professor Strummings, she'd much rather have had Hagrid and Fang by her side when she entered the gloomy depths.

Argus Filch left the edge of the forest and walked away with a cackle. Less then a minute later, Professor Strummings joined them.

"Hello Hermione," she said, smiling. She turned to Ginny. "I'm afraid I don't know your name..."

"Ginny," she said softly, "Ginny Weasley."

"Ah, of course. I believe I teach one of your brothers. I'm professor Strummings, call me Lia. Now come, let's get this over with."

We entered the forest and began to look for the herbs on the list Hermione had been given. I smiled when I realized it was an exact replica of the list Sirius and I had been given on that fateful detention when I first began to realize what I was. I could hear the faint murmurs of all the creatures around me, but I couldn't pick just one voice from the low hum of noise. 

"Lia," Ginny pointed, "isn't that a Tamel bush?"

I looked at where she was pointing and nodded. "You have a good eye, Ginny. Does one of you want to grab some?"

Hermione took out her magical gardening clippers and cut of a sprig, adding it to her bag.

"One plant down, nine to go." Ginny sighed, "do these even get checked? Can't we just go?"

Her idea sounded like a good one, but I was a teacher. I was supposed to act responsible. "'Fraid not, Ginny, though I really wish we could."

__

"You'll be wishing that even more soon, strange one."

"One second thought," I grabbed Hermione and Ginny by the arms, "we have to go. Now!"

Ginny came without question, but Hermione, though she walked, demanded, "Why? What's going on?"

__

"You cannot run, strange one. I am the griffin, bravest of the brave; these woods belong to me. It's time for you to pay for daring to humiliate me."

I tried to think of a way to escape without alerting the girls. Ginny looked at me. "Something's wrong, isn't it?" She took out her wand; Hermione and I did the same.

__

"Your wands will have no effect. You can only command me once."

"Girls," I said slowly, "we're in a bit of trouble, I don't want you to panic, just relax."

"Relax?" Hermione's voice was shrill. "What's going on!?"

"Do you two know what a griffin is?"

They both nodded.

"Right now, we are on the bad side of one."

Ginny bit her lip and Hermione gasped, "How do you know?"

"Just trust me."

__

"You are going to pay, strange one; I'll make you scream and beg for your own death."

Ginny let out a small cry as the griffin made himself seen and I gave her (what I hoped was) a comforting smile. "Relax, both of you." With a slight feeling of déjà vu, I concentrated and watched Hermione and Ginny rise out of harm's way.

"Oh my God!" Ginny cried, "what's happening?"

__

"Two strange ones? Glorious, I'll kill you both."

Two strange ones...

"Ginny," I cried, "can you understand what the griffin is saying?"

She shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "N-no."

"Ginny! This is important, I can help you! But you have to tell me, can you understand him?"

She let out a sob. "Yes!"

"Okay, Ginny, I need you to do something. I need you to repeat after me:

'Of the griffin do I ask 

Naught but to fulfill my task.

Of the griffin I demand

One labor 'til he free may stand.'"

Ginny repeated the verse, and I went on, "Now I want you to tell the Griffin to leave us be; hurry, Ginny!"

The griffin lunged for me, but Ginny screamed, "Leave us alone!"

The griffin roared with anger, pacing in circles. _"This is not over, strange one! We will meet again! Three times unlucky, three times and you shall die!"_

Sirius looked around; he appeared to be in the outskirts of Hogsmeade, looking up at the black mouth of one of the many caves. He wondered why he was there, and in human form. It was far too dangerous.

"It doesn't matter. Nobody will see you."

He turned around; Lia was standing behind him. "Why am I here?"

"I don't know. Only you can tell."

"I... I don't remember."

"I know."

"Can you help me remember?"

"You don't need help."

He nodded. "I know you, don't I?"

"Do you?"

"Yes... But I don't know for sure, it's confusing."

"It will make sense. Soon."

"Soon."

Authors note: Thank to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading, (I hope you noticed the extra angst ;) ) and thanks to whoever invented school holidays for allowing me to get this one done nice and fast. For those who are confused, Sirius remembers everything about Lia, but he doesn't remember knowing Lia. (You didn't really think I'd let you have it all, did you?) And I know I said somewhere that the Sabi was sixteen, but just ignore that, ok? 


	9. Plane Trips and Practice

Disclaimer: I own nothing, JKR does though.

Second Chances

chapter nine: Plane trips and Practise

I led Hermione and a pale and shaking Ginny straight to Madam Pomfrey. She said Hermione could go, but wanted to keep Ginny there overnight. I walked Hermione back to her common room.

"Ginny is a Sabi, isn't she?" she asked as soon as we were out of Madam Pomfrey's hearing range.

"Yes, she is. But Hermione, you cannot tell anybody about it. Ginny is in terrible danger..."

"Yes, I know. You're one too, aren't you?" I nodded and she sighed. "I suspected what Ginny was, that's why I was reading up on Sabi. I was trying to figure out a way to help her. You-Know-Who's going to be after her now, isn't he?"

I nodded again as we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Look, Hermione, I'll speak with both you and Ginny tomorrow. Until then, I cannot stress how important it is that you don't tell anybody about this. Not even your best friend."

Hermione nodded. "I know and I won't. I wouldn't do anything to put Ginny in even more danger."

__

More trouble, I thought to myself on the way back to my room, _is the last thing any of us need right now._

The excitement of the previous day was enough to drive Remus, who normally voiced the opinion that drinking before six o'clock was tacky, to the Three Broomsticks.

He sat at the bar and rubbed his temples while he waited to be served.

"Gidday luv, what can I get ya?"

Remus fought the urge to groan and looked up at the odd woman he remembered from his shop. "Oh, you. You left your things in my shop."

She grinned as she recognized him. "So I did. I'll come and get them 'dreckly."

"Uh, right."

"Lia tells me your name's Remus Lupin. I'm Tahnee Cottleslow."

Remus smiled faintly. "Pleased to meet you."

"Now, what'll ya be having?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm not sure..."

"Well, we're pretty quiet right now, so you've got plenty of time."

Remus sighed and decided he wasn't really thirsty, but he wasn't fond of the idea of going home to a very grumpy Sirius. Desperate for an excuse to stay, he re-started the conversation with the woman. Tahnee. "How do you know Lia?"

"Lia? Me and her go way back. We've been best mates since we were just ankle-biters."

"Oh. I didn't know Lia was from Australia."

"'Course she's from Australia. Though, she's more like one o' you poms now."

"Uh, right. Do you do that on purpose?"

"Do what on purpose?"

"Talk like that. It's rather confusing."

She seemed perplexed for a moment. "I dunno. It's how me mum and old man talked, why shouldn't I talk like that?"

Remus had no answer for that, so he simply shrugged.

"Decided what you want yet?"

"No, I haven't. Surprise me."

He rather regretted his words as soon as he saw her grin, which was not unlike Sirius' I-am-up-to-absolutely-no-good grin. She left, and after a few minutes brought back a small glass of a sinister-looking green liquid.

"Do I even want to know what that is?"

"Probably not."

"Tell me anyway."

"It's a squashed frog."

Remus' stomach squirmed. "You didn't mean that in a literal way, did you?"

"What are you, daft? Just drink it. But you've got to down it in one go."

Remus looked down at the glass.

"It won't kill ya."

"There are a lot of things worse than death."

She shook her head. "Come on, you're a long time dead, you know."

With an I-know-I'm-going-regret-this sigh, Remus picked up the glass. He gulped it down with a slight wince. 

His head exploded. At least, that's what it felt like. The drink was like ice going down, then caught fire in his stomach. 

Tahnee grinned at him. "Deadly, unna? You want another."

"No," Remus gasped, "definitely not."

She cackled away like a madwoman. 

"I hate you," said Remus. He found himself wishing many unpleasant and painful things upon her.

Tahnee went to serve another customer, leaving Remus to put his head in his hands and die in peace. Or maybe not.

He was aware of the seat next to him being filled, but didn't quite feel up to raising his head. "Isn't it a bit early in the day to be feeling so poorly?"

Remus sighed. "What part of, 'don't talk to me,' don't you understand? Because I'd be more than happy to explain it to you."

Ellie sighed. "That's it? You're going to ignore me forever?"

"Well, at least until my head stops spinning."

"Then I'll wait."

And she did, for when Remus felt brave enough to lift his head ten minutes later, she was still there. "Feeling better?"

"No." 

"Is that because of whatever you've been drinking or because of me?"

"Both. Mostly because of you."

She rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand. For a brief moment, Remus thought she was going to curse him, but she simply tapped his temple and muttered a few words, and he felt the aftereffects of the squashed frog fade away.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"You must have something you want to say to me? Just yell if it will make you feel better."

Remus sighed. "No. I don't want to yell; yelling is pointless."

"Well, say something!"

Remus sighed again. "Fine. What are you doing here?"

"Here? I'm staying here."

"No, not here as in the Three Broomsticks. Here as in Hogsmeade. Why did you come back?"

"I... I don't know. It was just something I had to do."

"Fine. Why did you leave?"

She bit her lip, and looked quite serious. "Didn't you feel it? After that Ravenclaw died, didn't you feel it?"

Determined to be difficult, Remus shrugged. "Feel what?"

Ellie looked as though she was struggling for words to explain it. "It was like... I know that I didn't know her, but my stomach kept telling me I did. And I felt so guilty! I still do... I felt as though it was my fault she died, but I don't know how it possibly could be. And there was more..."

"You felt like something was missing."

"Yes, that's it. And sometimes, I see the face of a girl. I don't know her name, or who she is, but I feel like I know her. That I owe her something. It nearly drove me insane, Remus! That's why I left so quickly, I couldn't stand it! I felt that if I stayed at Hogwarts any longer it would swallow me whole. I wasn't thinking clearly, I just had to get out!"

Remus was finding it harder to hate Ellie, which he found quite disappointing, because it was far easier to hate than to understand. "Where did you go?"

"London. I finished my education at a Muggle boarding school, then managed to get a job and a tiny apartment. I locked my wand away and lived as a Muggle."

"Then why did you come back?"

"You've already asked me that."

"And you didn't answer."

"I feel so guilty. And I know why! I'm sick of it, so I came back here to try and.. I don't know, make up for whatever I did."

Remus said nothing, he just stared down at the empty squashed frog glass if front of him.

"Do you still hate me?"

He shook his head. "I never said I hated you."

"Some things go without saying."

He smiled. "I don't hate you."

"Good."

"I have to go," he stood up and smiled again, "but I'm not going to say good-bye."

The next morning I had planned to talk to Ginny and Hermione, but couldn't because Dumbledore grabbed my arm at breakfast and told me there was going to be a meeting first thing. It was held in the same room as last time, with all the same wizards and witches.

I stepped over Snuffles in the doorway, ignoring the clenching in my stomach, and sat next to Remus. I realized I should probably say something about Sirius, so I leant over and whispered, "Azkaban fugitives? What else are you hiding?"

He smiled at me, then turned his attention to Dumbledore, who was looking very grim indeed. He handed several copies of 'The Western Wand,' an Australian wizarding newspaper, around the table. I quickly read the front page article:

Fear Increases as More bodies are Found

In the past few days, several murders have occurred in different areas of the south-west of Western Australia. 

Ministry officials have assure fearful witches and wizards that the deaths are in no way connected to each other, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, despite Avada Kedavra being the believed cause of all the deaths.

The names of the victims are not yet being released.

My stomach churned rather unpleasantly as I looked up expectantly at Dumbledore. He waited until everybody had finished reading before he spoke.

"I have the names of the wizards killed here, along with names of several Muggles who have died the same way." He cleared his throat then read out the list, "Fiona Burkins , Lee Stranfors, James McKenzie, Darla Gregs and Colin Burkett are the wizards; Charmian Sewl, Naomi Towner and Nicholos Mickles are the muggles." Dumbledore sighed. "What troubles me the most is the wizards were all the same age and while the Muggles were not, I still believe they are connected. I simply fail to see the connection."

Dumbledore may have failed to see the connection, but I certainty did not. I knew every wizard and Muggle he mentioned. The wizards were in my year at Ombigono and the Muggles had been their family members and my friends.

Dumbledore was giving me the same look he did when I learned of Kath's death. I looked away from him and remembered something the woman at the jetty had said: _If nobody remembers a person, how can they exist?_

And quite suddenly, Voldemort's plan became clear. He was killing everybody I knew in an attempt to kill the one person who remembered me: Tahnee.

Ginny and Hermione waited anxiously on the grass outside Hagrid's empty hut. Hermione had seen Lia for a brief moment before she had gone to Transfiguration and even though she seemed quite preoccupied, she'd told Hermione to meet her at lunch with Ginny.

Ginny, fresh from the nurse, was quite pale and nervous. Hermione couldn't think of any way to explain what was going on to her, so she simply sat and waited for Professor Strummings.

She arrived only a few minutes late, and smiled gently at Ginny as she sat down.

"How are you feeling today, Ginny?" she asked and Ginny shrugged.

"All right, I guess. My head still hurts."

"That's quite understandable."

Ginny looked on the verge of tears; she was biting her lip as she looked up at Lia. "What's wrong with me?"

Lia looked at her sharply. "Absolutely nothing. Don't you ever think there is anything wrong with yourself."

"Then why..."

"Ginny, you're a Sabi. Do you know what a Sabi is?"

She nodded slowly. "I think so. But, I can't be a Sabi; they're all dead, aren't they?"

"No. There are two left. You, and me."

"You're a Sabi, too?"

I nodded.

"Then you can help me?"

I nodded again. "If you want me to."

"I want you to."

I made arrangements to meet Ginny and Hermione the next day. Ginny was eager to start practicing, and both girls swore they wouldn't tell anybody what was happening.

I don't think Ginny yet realized how much danger she was in yet, though Hermione was going to lend her all of her Sabi books, so it was sure to sink in soon enough.

On my way back to my room, I was stopped by Dumbledore. He lead me into an empty classroom. "I've given quite a large amount of thought to the deaths occurring in Australia."

"Really? What do you thinks going on?"

"I still don't know what to think, which is why I am sending you, Remus and Sirius to Australia to find out. That is, if you want to go?"  
"Umm... Well, sure, but what about my classes..."

"I'll take care of that. Normally I wouldn't ask this of you, but as you lived in Australia for some time, I think it would be best if you went."

I nodded, trying to look confident. "Yes, I see your point."

"Wonderful. I'll contact Sirius and Remus. You have no questions?"

"Uh, when will we leave? And how long will we stay?"

"You will leave in two days and stay for as long as you need. I don't think there should be any problems with people recognizing Sirius, for he is not as well known in Australia."

I nodded again and continued up to my room in something of a daze.

Remus watched as Sirius paced around and around the herb shop.

"Sirius, if I asked you what was wrong, is there any chance you'd tell me?"

"Hmmm?"

Remus sighed. "Well, at least stop pacing; anybody'd be able to see you."

Sirius transformed into Snuffles (though didn't falter in his pacing) not a moment too soon. The door opened Remus' least favorite person entered. "Oh. It's you."

Tahnee grinned. "Just here for me things."

Remus retrieved the bag from under the counter and held it out to her. "Will that be all?"

"Yeah. I know when I'm not wanted."

Remus said nothing and she flashed another grin. "See ya 'round, Reggie!"

__

Reggie? Remus looked over to where he'd last seen Sirius, sincerely hoping he hadn't paid attention to the brief conversation, only to find he was gone.

Lia was waiting for Tahnee up in her room when she arrived back at the Three Broomsticks.

"How'd you get up here?" Tahnee asked, flopping into one of the two chairs in the small room.

Lia shrugged. "Rosmerta let me up."

Tahnee smiled at her friend. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to ask?"

Lia sighed. She'd seen that one coming a mile away. "Have you read the Western Wand lately?"

"Are you joking? I haven't read the Western Wand for monkey's years."

"Ah, well. Read this." Lia handed her the same article Dumbledore had given her earlier that day.

Tahnee skimmed it quickly then shrugged. "Sad, sure. But, so?"

"Now read this, a list of the people who died. Some of them are Muggles, but they're all dead by Avada Kedavra."

She read the list and looked at me. "I knew all these people."

"So did I."

"What does it mean?"

"Voldemort. He's killing off all the people I knew because if he kills the one person who remembers me, I'll cease to exist."

"You mean... Me. If he kills me, you die."

Lia nodded and Tahnee swore.

Lia sighed. "Dumbledore's sending Remus and I to Australia to see what we can find out."

"But you already know what's happening."

"I can't tell Dumbledore that."

"You have to! People are dying, Lia. This is Albus freaking Dumbledore, I'm sure he'll believe you!"

"I still can't, Tahnee. You've got to understand-"

"Understand what? We knew these people, Lia! They were our friends! Do you really want to be responsible for more deaths?"

"No! But what can I do?"

"Go to Dumbledore!"

"And tell him what? Even if he did believe me, I'd still have to explain that every death Voldemort caused was because of me!"

"So? If you don't tell him, you'll have to explain that every death Voldemort is causing now are your fault!"

Lia sighed. "Look, I'll send you an owl and I'll talk to you when I get back."

"I'm coming with you."

"No!"

"I didn't track you down just to watch you leave again, Lia."

"I'll come back. And I'll speak. To. You. Then." 

And before Tahnee could argue, she turned and left the room.

"Sirius?" Remus poked his head into the kitchen, only to find it Padfoot free, "where are you?"

"In here."

Remus followed Sirius' voice into the lounge room.

"Just heard from Dumbledore," Sirius jerked his thumb at the fireplace, " he's got something for us to do."

"Really?" Remus sank into a chair, "what?"

"He wants you, and Lia I to go to Australia and try to figure out what's going on behind all these Voldemort-related deaths."

Remus sighed. "I don't know why I even bothered to re-open the store."

Sirius stretched. "Wonder why he's sending Lia with us. It's usually just you and me."

"Well, she is from Australia."

"I know."

Remus looked at his friend curiously. "How can you possibly know? Her friend Tahnee told me."

Sirius squirmed. "I must've just picked it up somewhere. Maybe I was thinking of someone else."

Remus shrugged, suspecting there was something Sirius wasn't telling him. "Maybe. So, Australia huh? Guess I'd better start packing."

"Ok, Ginny, Lia gave me a list of things that you'll eventually be able to do, and she told me how to teach you."

"Nice to know she's telling one of us these things."

"She's my teacher, Gin, I'm sure to see her more often than you and besides, you can't really teach yourself." Hermione cleared her throat and looked down the parchment in her hand. "Well, you can already talk to animals, that just comes naturally. Lia said the first thing she learnt was how to lift things with her mind."

Ginny grinned enthusiastically. "Cool."

"Ok, here's what you do..."

Hermione and Ginny stayed holed up behind the curtains in Ginny's dorm for several hours and Ron, being the perceptive boy we all know is, began to wonder where they were.

"Harry, where's Hermione?"

Harry shrugged, absorbed in his homework. "With Ginny somewhere."

"Where's somewhere?"

"I dunno, Ron."

Ron sighed, thoroughly annoyed. "I'm bored."

"Well, go find her."

"Fine. Since you insist, I will."

Harry rolled his eyes as his friend wandered off, and turned his attention back to his Transfiguration.

Ron pushed open the door of Ginny's dorm hoping there were none of her girly friends were in there doing whatever it was that girls did. He could hear Ginny and Hermione talking behind the curtain of Ginny's bed, and for a brief moment he wondered if he'd walked in on something he shouldn't have.

"This isn't working, Hermione."

"Yes, well, you've only just started. Practice makes perfect."

"My head hurts."

"Yeah, Lia said that would happen..."

Ron cleared his throat. "Uh, Hermione? Ginny?"

Hermione yanked the curtain back. "Ron! What are you doing here? This is the girls' dorm!"

"Well spotted Herm!" Ron shrugged. "I was bored. Wanted to see what you were doing. What _are_ you doing?"

Ginny scowled. "That's none of your business!"

Run shrugged again. "Yeah, well you can go back to what you're doing. I know when I'm not wanted."

Hermione sighed. "Ron..."

But he'd already sulked away.

I didn't speak to Tahnee again before I left. I felt bad about that, but I knew if I went and spoke to her she'd convince me to let her go with me, and I didn't want to put her in that sort of danger. Though I did tell Hermione and Ginny I was going. Dumbledore had thought it best if we took a Muggle airplane to Australia, as that way Sirius could travel in his human form with little chance of being recognized. 

I waited outside one of the international airports in London for a moment, composing myself and deciding what on Earth I was going to say to Sirius when I saw him. Finally, I took a deep breath and made my way to where Remus and I had arranged to meet. I could see them before they saw me and I had to pause again. If Remus hadn't have turned around and spotted me, I think I would've made another run for it.

"Lia!" He called, smiling, "feeling up to a bit of flying?"

I waved and made my way over, trying to appear normal. Sirius was struggling with his Muggle suitcase but looked up and smiled in a slightly embarrassed manner when I arrived.

Remus grinned. "Lia, this is Sirius; Sirius, this is Lia.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus. "He thinks he's being clever." He held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you. Hope I didn't give you too much of scare before."

"No, that's quite all right."

And that was that.

We loaded our luggage and boarded the plane, and soon we were off.

I was going home.

Authors note: Yes, a trip to my very favorite country coming right up, :) 

Like always, thanks to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading when she really should be finishing Every Wish. Oh, and not all Australian people are like Tahnee. She's pretty exaggerated. ;)


	10. Flights of Fantasy

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that J.K.Rowling does.  
  
Second Chances  
Chapter Ten: Flights of Fantasy  
  
  
  
  
"She is following the trail, my Lord."  
"You're sure?"  
"Yes."  
"Then it's time. Begin the plan."  
  
Upon stepping from the plane at Perth International, there was really only one thing to say.  
"It's hot."  
Lia rolled her eyes at Remus, giving him her best 'duh' look. "Now that we've cleared that up, we'd better go try to get a taxi."  
Sirius fiddled with his Muggle shirt (stupid Muggle clothing) and said nothing. He hadn't said anything since their plane had taken off. He'd spent most of the ride feigning sleep and listening to Lia explain the fine art of Australian etiquette to Remus (his werewolf friend was quite worried that the majority of the Australian population would be like Tahnee) and struggling with the billions of questions that came with Lia.  
Lia had spent the trip half-listening to Remus and wondering what had happened to the notebook she'd written in about what had happened before she'd died and Remus spent it worrying about the upcoming full moon. He had enough Wolfsbane potion to last six moths, but he still didn't know how he was going to hide his transformation from Lia.  
It was a very happy ride. Really.  
"What hotel are we staying at again?" Remus asked as the trio made their way to the exit.  
Lia fished a brochure from her pocket. "A Muggle place. The Hyatt. Sounds fancy."  
Remus sighed. "Just as long as it's got air conditioning. Gods, it's hot!"  
Lia grinned quite wickedly, but said nothing.  
The trip to the hotel Dumbledore had booked was uneventful. Our suite had two bedrooms and a bathroom. Sirius quickly claimed the double bed, leaving Remus and I a single one each.  
"Nice view," Remus commented, gesturing to the window. "What river is that?"  
I dumped my stupid, heavy, Muggle suitcase on the bed and quickly looked out. "The Swan river."  
Sirius flopped onto his bed. "How long are we here for?"  
Remus gave Sirius a glare he must have perfected during his stint as a professor. "Didn't you listen when Dumbledore told us the details, Padfoot?"  
"I don't need to listen, Moony; I've got you."  
"Moony? Padfoot?" Sirius and Remus looked at me and Sirius grinned, probably thinking I was confused at the nicknames when really I was trying not to laugh at the fact that they still used them.  
"Anyway, Sirius, we're only staying for a night, and then we're heading for... Lia, what's the town called again?"  
"Town? Mandrah, Remus, and it's a city, not a town. We'll be able to Apparate there, which is good."  
Sirius yawned. "Yeah, that's great. God, I'm tired."  
I stared out the window, partly so I didn't have to look at Sirius and partly because the Swan river really was beautiful and I wanted to admire the view. "That's just jet lag. A Muggle thing."  
"Muggles suck."  
While Sirius slept, Remus and I worked out where would go after we left Mandrah. We agreed it would be best to visit the scene of every death in hopes of turning up even the slightest clue. It was not something I was looking forward to.  
  
With a slight scowl, Tahnee scrubbed the spilled ale from the bench top. Sure, there were always polishing and de-staining charms, but cleaning the Muggle way always made her feel better when she was mad. And boy, was she mad.  
Who did Lia think she was? Tahnee'd spent almost half her laugh tracking the stupid girl down and, after having found her, she'd gone off again barely a week later! It was very selfish and unfair of her.   
She threw the damp cloth down and sighed.  
"Having one of those days?"  
Tahnee looked up and smiled slightly at Ellie Lewis, whom she'd quickly become friends with. "You could say that. How 'bout you? You look like you just had to flush your goldfish down the dunny."   
Ellie shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I just can't believe Remus left like that. I thought we'd worked out our problems... He didn't even say good-bye."  
Tahnee didn't know anything about Ellie and Remus' past. It wasn't something Ellie ever wanted to talk about, so she simply shrugged noncommittally. Then she stamped her foot and put her hands on her hips. "I'm sick of this! Why am I staying here like a good little puppy just 'cause Lia said so! C'mon, Ellie; we're outta here!"  
"What are you talking about?"  
"It's not like we've got anything keeping us here! You look like you need some adventure; let's go to Australia!"  
"Australia?"  
"Yeah! We'll track down Lia and grumpy-bum Remus. It won't take me long; I'm an Aussie kid at heart. Let's go now."  
Ellie looked quite dazed. "Now? Are you mad!? You have a job and-"  
"Look, are you coming or not?"  
Ellie hesitated then shrugged. "Well, okay. Let's go."  
  
He awoke chained to a cold, damp, and rather uncomfortable wall. He felt extremely disoriented until the gaps in his memory slowly filled.  
He remembered Peter shaking him awake after he'd been asleep only minutes and asking him to go for a walk.   
'I've got something to show you, Padfoot, something big.'  
And he'd followed him. Why not? It wasn't like Peter could do any damage. Of course, Sirius hadn't counted on the slimy little rat decking him from behind.  
A sharp pain ripped through his head and Sirius swore aloud. Only then did he notice Peter standing off in the shadows, watching.  
"Peter! What the hell is going on!?" Peter shrugged. "Sorry, Sirius.  
He swore again and looked around at his surroundings, mostly so he didn't have to look at Peter.  
He soon realized he was in the cave he'd taken Lia too so many times. Except he was deeper than he'd ever been and Lia wasn't with him this time.  
"What have you done Peter? What the hell is wrong with you!"  
Peter turned away, "doesn't matter now anyway. Master will be here soon, so will she. That's all he wants Sirius, you don't have to get hurt."  
"Damn you Peter! Damn you damn you damn you!"  
He lapsed into silence, mentally imagining various painful deaths for him, trying not to focus on the fact he'd been betrayed.  
"Sirius!" He saw Lia run towards him, he wanted to tell her to go, to run. He wanted to tell her it wasn't safe. He wanted...  
  
I awoke so early it was still dark and for a brief moment wondered why. I soon figured that it was Sirius who'd woken me, for he was tossing and turning (his covers lay on the floor) and moaning softly. I presumed immediately he was dreaming (nightmaring?) of Azkaban, or the events that led to him being there, and argued with myself to whether or not I should wake him.  
"Don't..." He muttered fitfully, "just go. Go!"  
I winced and slowly made my way towards the bed, still believing his nightmare was of the Azkaban variety.  
"Don't... Not worth it... Lia... Lia!"  
I gasped and hesitated, the shock of hearing my own name enough to stop me.  
"Don't be an idiot! Don't give it to him! Don't..."   
I paused then quickly ran to his bed and tried to shake him awake. "Sirius! Sirius, wake up!"  
He muttered some more, then rolled away.  
"Damnit." I bit my lip and shook him again to no effect. I sighed and used my powers to lift him a foot of the bed and let him the drop.  
He jerked awake and sat up looking around widely, "what?"  
I blinked, unsure of what to say. "You were, uh, having a nightmare. Don't you remember?"  
He shook his head slowly. "I don't usually remember my nightmares. Did I wake you?"  
"No," I lied. "I was awake."  
"Hope you're not tired tomorrow," he muttered, already drifting off again. "But I guess after Hogwarts you're used to no sleep."  
I faltered, "what?" He didn't answer, because he'd fallen asleep and I had to fight the urge to shake him awake again.  
He's tired, I told myself on my way back to my bed. He doesn't know what he's saying. He doesn't know.  
  
Ellie and Tahnee were both good at passing as Muggles. Ellie had lived as one for many years, and Tahnee had stayed in a lot of Muggle towns during her backpacking days, so neither looked out place at all on the plane bound for Australia.  
Ellie sighed again as the annoying Muggle boy behind her kicked her seat. Again. "This is a bad idea. I don't know why I ever agreed to come!"  
Tahnee laughed. "Quit your worryin'."  
Kick. Kick. Kick.  
"But, well, Remus isn't going to be pleased to see me. Or you, for that matter."  
"Then pretend that you helped me track down Lia not Remus. Why, we're not even sure if Remus'll be there."  
"I've never even met Lia before!" Kick. Kick. Kick.  
"No matter; you two'll get on like a house on fire. Lia likes to worry just like you and I'm sure you've got stacks more in common."  
Ellie sighed again, "I still think this is a bad idea."  
Kick. Kick. Kick.  
Ellie turned and peered at the boy through the gap in the seats, he looked back at her with a perfectly innocent statement.  
"Guess what," she whispered to him so his mother couldn't hear.  
"What?"  
"I'm a witch, and if you kick my seat again I'll take out my magic wand and turn you into a pink worm forever. Got it?"  
The boy nodded solemnly and Tahnee shook her head. "Honestly. You lie to children?"  
Ellie shrugged. "Who said anything about lying?"  
  
Despite ample protest from Sirius (who didn't have the slightest recognition of his nightmare), there was no time for sightseeing the next morning. As soon as everybody was awake, showered, and packed, it was time to Apparate to the Muggle city of Mandrah.  
Mandrah was one of the few places in Australia to have an Apparating center, where wizards and witches could Apparate to and from without any chance of being spotted by a Muggle.  
Remus looked quite upset after their arrival. "Oh," he said, "it's hot here, too."  
"It's pretty much going to be hot everywhere we go, Remus."  
Remus glanced over at Lia. "I want to go home."  
Sirius tried and failed not to laugh to his friend's discomfort, then looked at his watch. "Ah! Lunch time; how about we eat before we play detective?"  
Lia shrugged. "Sounds good to me; feel up to a vegemite sandwich, boys?"  
Sirius shook his head. "No way am I eating that poison!"  
Remus gave Sirius a look. "Sirius, how do you know what it tastes like?"  
Sirius faltered, then shrugged. "Uh, I don't know. The name sounds disgusting, I guess."  
Lia gave Sirius a look Remus could not decipher and then also shrugged. "There are some good Muggle fast food joints around here..."  
Remus, the only pureblood there, looked perplexed. "Fast food?"  
Sirius grinned. "You'll love it, Moony! C'mon, we'll have McDonalds."  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat around the fire in the common room, finishing their Charms homework. At least, Ron and Harry were finishing their Charms homework.  
"Herm?" Ron poked her with his quill, getting ink all over her robes. "I told you, Harry! She's asleep!"  
Harry threw his hands up in the air. "Third time she's fallen asleep this week! You don't think she's using a time turner again, do you?"  
Ron scowled, "I don't know. But I do know she must be keeping secrets from us. When did Hermione Granger start falling asleep doing homework?"  
Harry peered over Ron's shoulder. "About the same time as Ginny, I'd say."  
Ron looked back and saw Ginny facedown in her open Transfiguration textbook. The pictures were protesting loudly at her snoring.  
He dropped his quill in disgust. "What is going on around here?"  
  
Ellie slept for most the plane ride, and was too groggy when they landed at Perth to notice much of anything. It wasn't until they reached their hotel, The Hyatt (Tahnee had picked it using the scientific method of jabbing her finger at a name in a Muggle phone book), that she took notice of her surroundings.  
"Oh," she blinked, looked through the window out at the Swan River. "Wow."  
Tahnee grinned. "I know."  
They sat in silence for a while, resting after there flight, before Ellie spoke again. "Do you have any idea where we go from here?"  
Tahnee shrugged. "Not really. Shouldn't be too hard to find Lia; that girl leaves a trail like a snail's."  
Ellie shook her head. For so long order had been such a huge part of her life, it had been her life, and here she was hopping about the globe with really no idea where she was going and a guide with doubtable sanity.  
Tahnee rubbed her eyes anxiously. Her 'inner eye' was making itself heard, though what it was trying to say was unclear. With a sigh she walked over to her bed, (a single one. She disliked double beds, far to much room) and flopped onto it.  
She couldn't sleep. Far too many thoughts were whizzing about her head like golden snitches fleeing the hands of the seekers.  
They would be Apparating to Mandrah the next day. She hadn't seen the city since she was a tiny girl, before she'd even gone to Ombigono, and was looking forward to seeing it again.  
She concentrated on thinking of how the city may have changed, so not to consider more difficult questions and thoughts.  
Like how she was going to face him day in and day out and not go insane.  
Tahnee's eyes blinked open, and she looked over at Ellie. "I know where they're going."  
  
Ginny and Hermione spent all the time they could practicing. So far their troubles had been fruitless, for with Lia gone they both had really no idea of what they were doing.  
"I wish Lia would come back," said Ginny, tiredly flopping back onto her bed. Ginny's dorm was empty, due to the Quidditch match both girls were missing. "Maybe then we'd get somewhere."  
"We're doing okay," insisted Hermione.   
"I can't believe I'm missing a Quidditch game for this."  
Hermione smirked. "No, you just can't believe you're missing Harry play a Quidditch match."  
Ginny sighed and closed her eyes.  
"Hey, you up there."  
She opened them again. "What, Hermione?"  
Hermione looked up from Lia's notes. "I didn't say anything."  
"Oh. Oh! There's an animal in here somewhere, I can hear it!"  
"Animal? Animal is a Muppet. A Muppet I am not."  
Ginny could make no sense of that. "Um, sorry. Where are you?"  
"Down here."  
"Down where?"  
"Under the bed."  
Ginny looked at Hermione, who had been watching Ginny with great interest. "It's under the bed."  
"Then look."  
Ginny wriggled onto her stomach and peeked under the bed. An ugly little thing sat there looking back it her. It had two large brown eyes that could almost be cute, until you took in the rest of it's appearance. Its squat little body was the same color as muddy swamp water and its webbed feet were covered in bulging warts. It had two tiny arms and two three-fingered hands and a tiny mouth with no teeth.  
"What in the world are you?" asked Ginny, hoping that didn't sound too rude.  
The thing rolled its eyes. "Honestly. Not even a scream. It's much more satisfying working for Muggles."  
"What are you?"  
"I," it puffed its chest out almost proudly, "am a monster under the bed."  
"What is it?" asked Hermione.  
Ginny looked up. "He says he's the monster under the bed."  
"Not the monster under the bed. A monster under the bed. There are more than one of us, you know."  
"Oh. What do you do?"  
"We terrorize Muggle children."  
Ginny thought that was terribly mean, but decided it would be best not to say so. "Um, we're not Muggles."  
"Obviously. I've been... banned from the trade."  
"Why?" "They say I'm not scary enough. Not scary enough! In my day, just one look at me was enough to make a Muggle's hair curl!"  
"I'm sure it was." The monster under the bed nodded. "Yes, well, they sent me here, to this very bed, to guard something very important until you arrived."  
"Oh. Really?"  
"They said I'd know it was you because I'd be able to understand you. That's what we do when the monsters in the closet- they think they're so grotesque- deem us not scary enough. They send us to guard things."  
Ginny got off the bed, as sitting upside down was making the blood rush to her head, and sat facing the monster. "Well, could you tell me what you've been guarding?"  
"I could." "Will you?"  
"I don't want to, you know, and if the closet monsters weren't making me I'd just bite of your nose and be on my way."  
"I understand, but could you show me anyway?"  
"There's a panel on the side of those drawers over there that opens. Look in there." The monster flashed a tiny grin with his tiny toothless mouth and with a small pop, he was gone.  
"What did it say?" asked Hermione.  
"It said there's something for me hidden in my drawers." Ginny got up and walked over to her chest of drawers; Hermione followed.  
Ginny instinctively pressed her hands against a side panel on the drawers and pushed on it. Surprisingly enough, it popped open.  
"Be careful," said Hermione, "there could be something dangerous in there."  
Ginny shrugged and stuck her hand in. She withdrew a thick notebook and looked over at Hermione, quite puzzled.  
"It's Lia's," said Hermione, pointing to Lia's name printed neatly across the front.  
"But she didn't go to Hogwarts. Did she?"  
Hermione shrugged. "Read it; see what it says."  
Ginny opened it and began to read: "I was the first to arrive at platform nine and three quarters. I suppose it was because I was two hours early. Perhaps I was a bit too eager to get away from Celia. I thanked my lucky stars yet again that Celia wasn't coming to Hogwarts. Though, I still didn't understand why I was going to Hogwarts..."  
  
After lunch, we headed towards the house of Leanne Mickles, the wife of the late Nicholas Mickles.   
Nicholas used to live next door to me, and even though he was a Muggle, he knew about wizards as his sister was one. Leanne was a Muggle, too, and I'd never met her.  
Remus knocked timidly on Leanne's front door. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Remus was worrying about the full moon, which was only two nights away. I figured he'd have Wolfsbane potion, but was probably trying to think of a way to hide his transformation from me. I decided I'd try think up a way to be out for the full moon.  
Leanne opened the door. She was a small woman with blonde hair pulled up in a bun and deep bags under her eyes. She held a small boy on her hip and the realization that the death of his father was my fault made my heart cry out.  
"Can I help you?" she asked us warily, and I wondered if she'd seen her husband die. I sincerely hoped not.  
I stepped forward. "We just wanted to offer our sympathies. I used to know Nicholas."  
She sighed and blinked back the tears that probably came every time she heard his name. She stepped aside. "Please, come in."  
The house was small, but everything was neat and tidy. There were photos everywhere of Leanne and Nicholas and, in some, their son.  
As we made our way down a passageway, Sirius smiled at the boy and the boy smiled back. "What's your name?" Sirius asked.  
He stuck a finger in his mouth and spoke around it, "Caleb. What's yours?"  
Sirius gave him a fake name, "Sam."  
Caleb turned to Remus. "What's your name?"  
"Charles."  
Last of all, he rounded on me, "What's your name?"  
"Loren."  
Leanne smiled sadly at us. "You all must be wizards. I didn't know much about any of Nicholas' and Sharon's, that's his sister, wizard friends, but he talked of them constantly."  
"Nicholas was a great guy," Sirius said, smiling. I wondered if he felt bad about lying.  
Leanne led us to a small sitting room and smiled sadly. "Thank you for coming here. How long did you know Nicholas?"  
I crossed and uncrossed my legs and tried to stop avoiding Leanne's eyes. "I knew him when we were only kids, but we kept in touch."  
Leanne nodded. "He had so many friends; so many people have been coming around."  
"Leanne?" Remus leaned forward slightly, "I know this is probably a difficult question, but... How did Nicholas die?"  
Leanne's eyes misted over. "The doctors said it was a heart attack, but..." She sighed. "You're wizards, right? You must know if there's any spell that could just kill someone like that. Please, I need to know."  
Remus shuffled in his seat. "There is one... It's called Avada Kedavra. That's why we're here. If he was killed by Avada Kedavra, then it's possible that a very powerful and dangerous wizard could be behind it."  
Leanne knotted her eyebrows. "You didn't know Nicholas?"  
"I did," I assured her, "a long time ago."  
She sighed again and after a pause said, "What do you want to know?"  
  
A few hours later Lia, Remus and Sirius were sitting on the floor of the hotel suite they were staying at, going over what Leanne had told them, which wasn't much.  
"Ok, so she comes home with her son and finds him dead on the floor," said Remus.  
Lia shuddered. "How awful."  
Sirius nodded. "Awful for her and for us. That doesn't tell us anything; we'll be stuck here forever!"  
"Yeah," Lia rolled her eyes, "living in Australia, have scarier words ever been spoken?"  
Sirius rolled his eyes back at her. "But you were smart enough to move away. If you stay for too long, I bet you go insane."  
"Like Tahnee," Remus added helpfully.  
Lia punched Remus lightly. "Tahnee is not insane."  
Sirius shook his head in mock anger. "Look at you! Fighting like school children! This is a serious mission; we need to operate like a well-oiled machine! A well-oiled vending machine! One that gives change! One that responds instantly when you touch the button you want, immediately dropping you packet of barbecue potato crisps into the container below, and pushes another pack forward to replace the ones that you have just bought!"  
Remus: "What's a vending machine?"  
Lia: "I don't even like barbecue chips."  
Sirius was not impressed. It was just like the old days, really.  
  
  
  
Authors note: Sorry for the wait everyone! Thanks to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading and thanks to everyone who reviewed the round-robin I took part in. (The Secret Nightlife Of Ron Weasley, go read!) Oh, and for those who have no idea what that was written in the notebook Ginny sound, go read the first few lines of The Last Sabi.  
  



	11. Snakebite and Siriusness

Disclaimer: I don't own it if J.K. does.

Second Chances

Chapter eleven: Snakebite and Siriusness

'Ah, my friend, there is a fine line between coincidence and fate.' - The Mummy Returns. 

"How do you know they're going to Mandrah?" Ellie asked the bathroom door while waiting for Tahnee (who was behind it) to change so they could Apparate.

"I just do."

"Are you a diviner?"

"I guess you could say that. I don't really know what I am."

"Well, I just hope you're right about this."

"Trust me." The door opened and Tahnee stepped out holding a sheet of paper. "Look, this is a list Lia gave me of the people You-Know-Who has killed. She told me that they were going to go and talk to the families of these people. The death nearest to here is in Mandrah."

"So we use this list to follow them?"

"Well... Yeah. Between you and me, Lia's always been a few snags short of a barbie. I'm sure I can catch up to her quick enough."

Ellie nodded. "Uh, if you say so. Shall we go then?"

"Sounds good to me."

Ginny and Hermione didn't stop reading from the notebook until well into the night. When the Quidditch match had ended, they barely stopped to congratulate Harry on his win on their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they could read without interruption.

Once they'd read it all, Ginny looked at Hermione with wide eyes. "What is this? Is it true, or just a story?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. It can't be just a story; too many of the facts are accurate."

"Except that Lia didn't go to Hogwarts and Sirius Black is not innocent."

"Yes. Yes, of course; you're right."

"But he is innocent, isn't he?"

Hermione's head snapped up. "What?"

Ginny sighed. "I'm not stupid, you know. Sirius Black has been free for over a year and Harry doesn't seem at all bothered by the fact, even though he 'murdered' his parents. And I can hear Mum, Dad, Bill and Charlie talking at night. And now this. Even if it's not true, it still makes sense. He's innocent."

Hermione bit her lip. "Yes, he is. But please, Ginny, make like you don't know! Please!"

"I will." Ginny ran her hands through her hair. "Wow. I've grown up fearing Sirius Black and now I find out he's innocent." She paused again to let it sink in, then said, "How many people know?"

"At first is was just Professor Lupin, Harry, Ron, myself and Dumbledore. Now a few more people know, like your parents, Bill and Charlie."

"But not Lia?"

"No, at least I don't _think_ she does."

"Hermione... If the stuff in this book is true... My God! It would be amazing!"

Hermione nodded, "I know, but before we tell anyone about it, we need to find out what happened to Lia after she went to get Sirius. Everyone here acts like they don't know her, and she told me herself she grew up in Australia."

Ginny shrugged. "It's confusing. Maybe we should go to the library and look up Lia and all the people mentioned in here in the school records. That might give us some idea to whether this is the truth or just a really elaborate hoax."

Hermione nodded. "We'll do it first thing tomorrow."

While his partner slept, Wormtail quickly read through the sharp note he'd received via Hogwarts owl only moments before.

__

The three are following as planned. Master wants you to dispose of Black but bring Strummings and the werewolf back to him. I'm sure I don't need to remind why it is crucial that Lupin lives.

Wormtail sighed. There was that Strummings again. Well, it didn't matter anyway. She'd probably be dead soon enough.

It was a tired trio of people that sat at the bus stop across from the now empty home of Naomi Towner the next day. Lia, Remus and Sirius has spent the night going over Leanne's version of events again and again and had come up with nothing worth sending back to Dumbledore.

They sat at the bus stop eating their deli-bought breakfast, not saying much at all. Lia and Sirius were trying hard to avoid looking at each other and Remus was thinking about how much he really hated Tahnee.

The sat there for quite some time, putting off breaking into Naomi's house, until a bus pulled up in front of them. 

"You getting on?" The driver asked. He had a mean voice and an even meaner face.

Lia shook her head. "No, we're just waiting here, thank you."

The bus driver shook his head, and to the complete shock of Remus, Sirius and Lia, pulled out a wand. "I really think you should get on the bus."

The was no time to spare once Tahnee and Ellie arrived in Mandrah. Well, Ellie thought there was, but Tahnee's 'Lia's getting into trouble' bump was itching like mad.

They walked into the hotel Tahnee thought they were staying at and asked the man at the reception desk if a Lia Strummings was staying there.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I cannot divulge that information to the public."

Tahnee smiled sweetly. "Please?"

"No."

Normally Tahnee would have spent an hour wheedling it out of him, but today she had no time to spare, so with a quick glance around, she whipped out her wand ("Tahnee!" Ellie gasped) and charmed him.

"Now, is there a Lia Strummings staying here?"

The now dazed-looking receptionist tapped the name into his computer and nodded. "Yes. Room fifteen."

"Is she there now?"

"No, room service is in there now. Cleaning."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No."

"Alrighty then, bye!"

"Good-bye."

Outside, Ellie was thunderstruck. "I can't believe you just did that! In the open! Do you want the Ministry all over you?"

"Geez, no need to get crooked on me! There ain't nearly as many witches and wizards here than there are in Britain, so the Ministry down here's real slack."

Ellie scowled slightly. "Well, we still didn't find out where Lia is."

"There've been two Voldemort-related deaths in Mandrah. I figure they'll be going to either one of those places. The closest one was Naomi Towner. She lived just around the block from here, so if you've finished bellyaching, let's go!" 

They rounded the corner of the street of the Towner house just in time to see a bus driving away.

It was a good thing Hermione knew her way around the library, because there were over two thousand books of past Hogwarts students and Ginny was sure if she'd tried to do this on her own, she would have given up long ago. 

The first person Ginny and Hermione looked up was Lia herself. There was no record of her.

Then, out of curiosity, they looked up Lily Evans. It had everything from her grades to how she died.

"There's no point looking up Sirius, Remus or James," said Ginny, "because we already know about them. How about Ellie Lewis?"

Ellie was a Muggle-born Gryffindor. She had been an average student, excelling in Herbology. She had left Hogwarts in her fifth year (no reason was given) and was still alive.

"She left in her fifth year," Hermione mused. "Right after the story ends."

"Maybe it's not just a story. Let's check out Rachel Sloan."

Rachel Sloan was a pure-blooded Ravenclaw. She had excelled in everything except Quidditch, and Ginny thought she sounded a bit like Hermione. She died in her fifth year, from what was later believed to be one of the earliest reports of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's brand of Avada Kedavra.

This didn't help at all in easing Hermione and Ginny's suspicions. "She died from Avada Kedavra in her fifth year. Just like in the notebook," Ginny whispered. "And Ellie Lewis left in her fifth year, right after Lia's notebook ends."

Hermione bit her lip. "It could just be really big coincidence. Maybe some really creative person looked up random people in the records and tied them into a story."

"But Lia's not in the records." Ginny took the notebook out of her hands. "This ends right after Lia says she's going to rescue Sirius. We know she couldn't have come back, or she would have finished this off."

"Are you saying she died? Because she doesn't look dead to me."

"You're the brain, Herm; you figure it out!"

Hermione wrung her hands and suddenly got the look she got when she'd figured out a particularly hard problem. "Maybe... Wait here!" She rushed off to another shelf, leaving Ginny wondering what she thought she'd found. 

When she was a kid, Lia had loved riding on the bus, and so had her cousin, Celia. It was one of the only things they'd had in common.

But riding the bus had never been quite like this. She'd never felt an uncontrollable, panicky fear deep down in her bones, she'd never had her wand taken from her and she'd never been bound and tied to the seat. Remus was tied to the back seat, Sirius to a middle one and Lia to one up at the front.

Sirius swore every swear word he knew and threatened the bus driver, demanding to know who he was. But he was rather good at ignoring people and just kept on driving like nothing was wrong.

Lia quickly decided he was a wizard, and probably a Death Eater. But then, he knew how to drive a bus, which meant he could be a Muggle-born. Except that Voldemort killed Muggle-borns, he didn't invite them to join his ranks.

She looked out the bus window and tried to lose herself in the familiar landscape. Of course, the fact that she was probably being taken to Voldemort did nothing to calm her nerves.

The bus had been driving down a virtually empty road for half an hour, and the trees began to blur into one another until, surprisingly enough, Lia drifted into a fitful half-doze.

Tahnee watched the bus drive away and clutched Ellie's arm so tightly that she gasped. "They're on that bus!"

Ellie yanked back her arm. "So? We'll just go back to the hotel and wait for them there."

"No! They're in trouble! I can feel it... We have to follow them."

"Okay, we have feet, Tahnee. The bus has wheels. Feet, wheels. Feet, wheels. And I don't care how easy-going your Ministry is, I'm pretty sure they'd react if we whipped out brooms or something."

Tahnee bit her lip and was about to scream out in pure frustration when a rusty Holden Ute loudly squealed around the corner.

Tahnee waved her arms in the air and the car pulled over. The driver was a middle aged, balding man in a blue sleeveless shirt with a beer belly to rival all beer bellies. "Need a lift?"

Ellie marveled that he barely opened his mouth to speak. He just sort of squeezed the words out the side.

Tahnee nodded. "Where ya headed?"

"Me farm, but I ain't in no rush. I'll take you two where ever ya want to go."

Tahnee smiled. "Ace. Is ya farm that way?" She pointed to the direction the bus had gone, and Ellie realized with a sinking heart that she was going to actually have to get into the car with this man.

"Surely is."

"Great. Just keep going to your farm, that'll be the direction we're headed."

"Yer sure, darlin'? Ya don't want to be getting lost out in the bush, now."  
"We'll be fine."

"If you say so. Jump in the back, then, and don't mind Blue. He won't bite."

Tahnee swung her leg over the tray and settled in beside a panting Blue Heeler. Ellie hesitated. "Uh, is that safe?"

"I dunno, but it's fun."

The man shoved a pile of papers off the passenger seat onto the floor. "You can ride in here if yer really wont to."

Moments later, Ellie was clutching the side of the tray for dear life, fighting the urge to scream or throw up or both.

Tahnee, on the other hand, looked like she was having the time of her life. She whooped at the sky and looked as though she'd forgotten to be watching out for any sign of the bus. 

Ellie hadn't, though, which is why it was her and not Tahnee who saw it parked on the side of the road up ahead. She tapped Tahnee and yelled over the roar of the wind in her ears, "The bus!"

When Tahnee gestured that she couldn't hear her, she pointed.

Tahnee nodded and pounded on the glass window at the back the cabin. The man stopped the car.

"You sure you wanna get out here?" he asked again after Tahnee had thanked him. 

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Thanks for the lift, mate."

He nodded and drove away.

I was jolted out my half-sleep when the bus ground to a stop. I looked out the window, expecting to see a building or something, but saw only bush land.

The driver used his wand to bind Sirius, Remus and I together with silver rope and led us off the bus and into the bush. I silently hoped he knew were he was going, because I'd grown up hearing horror stories of people going into the bush and dying because they'd gotten lost.

It appeared, however, that he did know where he was taking us, because his steps didn't falter and he walked with purpose.

I was trying not to imagine being blown to bits by Voldemort, or, worse, being forced to give my blood again. Sirius was stumbling over logs and twigs- the heat was having an effect on him, and his cheeks were pales with red spots in the middle. I was about to demand the bus driver give him some water or something when he fainted.

Remus stopped to try and pick him up, but the man turned to him and snapped, "Leave him."

"We can't!" I cried, hoping to change his mind. "He'll die out here!"

The man shrugged. "That's the idea."

I was about to argue or fight back (and Remus looked as though he was about to as well), but he raised his wand and I found my feet moving forward without my permission. 

"Hey!" Remus yelled angrily. "You can't just leave him!"

The man shrugged and, against our will, we continued to walk.

Hermione had never come back to collect Ginny, so she gave up waiting and went back to the common room.

"Have you seen Hermione?" she asked Harry and Ron, slightly annoyed at being forgotten.

Harry shook his head. "No, we never know where Hermione is lately."

"Yeah," Ron added, "she's always with you."

Ginny sighed. "Well, she's not right now. And I'm looking for her. If you her see her, tell her where I am, will you?"

Ron scowled. "Don't see why we should. If we don't tell her you're looking for her then we might actually get to spend some time with her."

Ginny threw her hands up in frustration and walked off.

Minutes later, Hermione ran up to Ron and Harry, her arms stacked high with books. "Where's Ginny?" she asked, breathless.

Ron just rolled his eyes, but Harry said, "She just went upstairs. She was looking for you."

"Thanks." Hermione rushed off, accidentally dropping a book as she went. 

Ron leaned over and picked it up. It was a notebook. "Lia Strummings," he said, reading the name on the cover. "What's Hermione doing with our old COMC Professor's notebook?"

Harry shrugged, suddenly somber. Thinking of the trip Lia had gone on reminded him that Remus and Sirius were also on a dangerous mission for Dumbledore. "Read it," he told Ron, "and find out."

My feet were walking forward, but my mind was back with Sirius. I didn't try to fool myself: Sirius would be lucky to survive the rest of the day. If he had his wand, then maybe, but I could see his wand sticking from the back pocket of our captor.

He suddenly stopped walking, and I looked up to see where we were. It was an old wooden bush cabin that was slightly charred from past bush fires and was falling apart before our eyes.

The man, whom I hated more than Voldemort at that moment, pushed the door open and gestured that we should enter. We did so and found, sitting on a battered old lounge char right in front of us, the last person I ever expected (or wanted) to see.

Wormtail smiled a horrible smile. "I though you'd never get here."

As another low-growing prickle bush ripped the skin on her leg to shreds, Ellie decided she really hated the Australian bush. Sure, it was beautiful- she'd never known so many different shades of green existed- but it was still painful. "Do you know where you're going?" she asked Tahnee. "Because I really don't want to get lost."

"Don't worry, we have wands. If we didn't have wands, we'd be screwed."

"So we're lost?"

Tahnee opened her mouth to reply and tripped over a log. Ellie screamed and that's when Tahnee realized that it wasn't a log at all. It was Sirius Black.

Sirius groaned and awoke. He didn't open his eyes right away, because there was a heavy weight on his chest and he was scared it would turn out to be a koala or something. Lia had told him that koalas were harmless, but he'd seen the claws on those things. Nothing with claws like that was harmless. Besides, he felt odd; his leg was aching and his toes were numb.

He opened one eye and then the other. It wasn't a koala sitting on him. It was worse: an angry Australian with a wand pointed at him.

"What have you done with Lia and Reggie?" Tahnee demanded. Sirius could see Ellie standing behind her, looking worried.

"Reggie?"

She waved the wand in a threatening manner. "What have you done with them?"

"Nothing!"

"Gee, why don't I believe that. You. Are. A. Murderer."

Sirius winced. He knew this girl. Her name was Tahnee. Remus hated her. Sirius strained his mind and realized he'd met her before. In Australia. With Lia...

"I'm not a murderer," he mumbled. He was suddenly very thirsty and his tongue felt like an old sock. Or new sock. There was really no difference there. "Hasn't Lia told you? I'm innocent."

"How dare you mention her name? Everything is your fault!" Sirius barely had time to wonder what was his fault, because she got up (for a moment he thought she was going to leave him be), and delivered a swift kick to his ribs. 

He groaned and Ellie put a hand on Tahnee's shoulder. "No, don't. He... he's innocent."

"How do you know that?" Tahnee snapped. She knew Lia wasn't dead, because she could still feel that she was in trouble, and as far as she was concerned, it was all this man's fault.

"I don't know. I just do."

"I am innocent," Sirius gasped, fairly sure that Tahnee had cracked one of his ribs. "Lia should have told you..." He sat up slowly. "You gotta believe me!"

Tahnee looked at him in a very dangerous way. "Why?"

Sirius didn't answer, because suddenly he was in a cave, chained to a wall. And Voldemort was there, and he was telling Lia not to do something...

"Answer me before I kill you!" cried Tahnee, and Ellie was pretty sure she wasn't joking.

Sirius suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and wondered if Tahnee had done more than crack a rib. Then the pain went away and he felt rather dizzy, because his head was suddenly being bombarded with memory after memory. It was too much and he wondered if he might collapse. "I know who you are," he sounded quite amazed and Ellie noted the dazed look in his eye. 

"How hard did you kick him?" she whispered to Tahnee, who didn't answer because she was looking at Sirius in a shocked manner.

"You're Tahnee," he muttered, struggling to see her. "Did you tell Clar I said hello? 'Cause I did say hello."

Ellie looked confused and Tahnee looked thunderstruck. "Are you sure he's innocent?" she asked softly and Ellie nodded. 

"I don't know how I know, but he is."

Tahnee bit her lip. "Something's wrong with him," She knelt down beside him and inspected his leg. "Look," she pointed out the angry red marks on his leg, "he's been bitten by a snake."

"Oh, no! That's bad, right? How bad? Is he going to die?"

"Probably, unless we help. I did charms to heal snake bites when I was a kid, but I can't remember them."

"Remus would know them. We have to find him!" Ellie knelt beside Sirius. "Sirius, do you know were Lia and Remus are?"

Sirius looked puzzled. "I like Lia. Did you know she's a Sabi? My dad was a Sabi."

"Yes, but do you know were Lia is?"

"Oh, yes. The bus driver got them. He got me, too, but my foot really hurt and I fell over and when I woke up you were here instead."

Ellie wrung her hands. "What are we going to do? We can't leave him; he'll die."

Tahnee nodded. "I know."

"I've got it!" Ellie exclaimed. She looked down at Sirius. "Sirius, do you have anything of Remus' or Lia's with you?"

Sirius thought. "Yes." He moved his arm towards his pocket, but kept fumbling. "Damn. My arm won't do what I tell it too."

"Is there something in your pocket?" Ellie prompted, and Sirius nodded. Ellie looked in Sirius' pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.

"Remus gave it to me today... My nose was running. I didn't use it though, so don't worry."

"What are you doing?" Tahnee asked Ellie.

"A location charm. I'll use this and it should lead to wherever Remus is. You'll have to wait here with Sirius."

"I can't let you go out into the bush alone!" Tahnee protested. "It's too dangerous." 

"When did you start worrying? It has to be me. You don't know how to do the charm. I'll be fine; I've got a wand. Just make sure you don't kick him again." She tapped Remus' hanky with her wand and muttered a charm. It started to glow and before Tahnee could stop her, she was gone.

Tahnee sat beside Sirius, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. She still wasn't certain that he was innocent, but she figured Lia would be upset with her if she just let him die.

"Sirius," she said, "you have to stay awake. Tell me all the things you remember."

Sirius' eyes blinked open. "I remember everything," he said, slurring his words. "More than before. I used to know Lia. Isn't that funny? But I forgot her because of... Because of... What's his name? No one says his name; how are you meant to remember him if nobody will say his name?"

"Voldemort?"

"Yes! That's it! Voldemort, what are a strange name. Very clever of you to remember. Voldemort, he made everyone forget Lia. Do you remember Lia?"

"Yes."

"More cleverness. You should get an award, or something. I didn't remember her. I do know. Oh, I told her I loved her. Isn't that funny?"

Quite suddenly, his head lolled back and he was unconscious again.

Tahnee poked him. Nothing happened, though he was still breathing. "Oh bugger."

Authors note: Are you all happy now? I didn't plan to have Sirius completely remember Lia until Lia, but my muse had other ideas. Thanks to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading and thanks to the rest of the gang at Penumbra fic for saving me from boredom.


	12. Bitter Truths

Disclaimer: If JK owns it, I don't.

Second Chances

chapter twelve: Bitter Truths

Remus' face twisted into a mask of fury at the sight of his former friend. 

Wormtail smirked. "Hullo, Remus. And you must be Lia; did you like my Dark Mark?" He folded his arms, the image of perfect confidence, but Lia and Remus could both see the twitch by his left eye. 

Wormtail's partner dropped Lia, Sirius, and Remus' wands onto an old table, and Peter smirked some more. "Three wands... But I only see two people, where oh where is poor old Sirius?"

Lia felt her anger well up inside her and felt for a moment she might explode. She didn't, but every glass item in the cabin did. It was then that it occurred to her that she still had her Sabi powers, and, oblivious to Remus watching on amazed, she put them to good use.

Wormtail dove under the lone bed as the rickety wooden walls shook. His partner, though, had more brains and went to grab the wands as they lifted from the table.

"Stun her!" Wormtail squeaked, "Stun her!" He then screamed as the bed he was under began to melt.

That was when his partner grabbed his own wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" in Lia's direction, and she slumped to the floor.

The second she was out of Tahnee's sight, Ellie's resolve began to fade. The trees around her suddenly seemed much taller, and the insane laughter of the kookaburras became menacing. But she kept going, concentrating on the handkerchief she was holding (it glowed blue when she was going in the right direction, and green when she wasn't), and not the fact that the man she was rushing to save had been bitten by a snake that could very well still be hungry.

It didn't take her as long to reach them as she had thought. She could see the back of Remus' head through the window of an old cabin, which looked like a giant had picked it up and shook it recently, and she could also see another mean-looking man in front of him.

As quietly as she could, Ellie crept forward, willing the dead leaves to stop crackling so loudly under her feet. Luckily enough, she managed sneak up to the cabin without attracting any unwanted attention, and she peeked through one of the many holes in the wall.

She could see a young (and somehow familiar) woman, who she guessed was Lia Strummings, lying Stunned on the floor. Remus was glaring at a small man who (and she could hardly believe her eyes) was the supposedly dead Peter Pettigrew. 

The only other man in the room she didn't recognize, but he looked far more composed than Peter, who was trembling and casting wary looks as Lia.

Ellie thought of the quickly-dying Sirius and decided she had no time to waste. She clutched her wand firmly in her sweating hand and kicked in the door. 

Remus was a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (at least, he had been), and he knew that Lia had just displayed powers common to Sabi. He didn't know which should surprise him more, the fact that she was a Sabi, or the fact that he wasn't as shocked as he should have been.

Poor Remus was only just starting to get his mind around this when the front door fell in.

Everyone (except for Lia) jumped and spun around.

"Sorry," said Ellie, "but I've always wanted to do that."

She didn't wait for the two Death Eaters to regain their wits; she held out her wand and Stunned Peter, then turned to his partner only to see he was aiming a wand back at her.

Remus quickly grabbed a lump of wall that had landed by his feet and smashed it on the man's head. He fell down beside Peter.

Then Remus knelt down and picked up Lia, grabbed her wand (his had been broken) and, without a word exchanged between them, they bolted.

After only moments of running, Remus stopped and aimed Lia's wand at her. "_Enverate_."

Her eyes blinked open and she shot forward. Remus grabbed her arm. "It's okay; we're safe." He turned to Ellie. "What are you doing here?"

Ellie smiled sheepishly. "Uh, Tahnee and I followed you."

"You what?" Lia demanded, "I'll kill her!"

"I'll help," offered Remus.

Lia peered at Ellie, and Remus noted that it looked as though recognized her.

"I'm Ellie Lewis," said Ellie. "I know who you are."

Lia nodded, then felt sick as she remembered Sirius. 

"We have to go!" Ellie said, also remembering Sirius. "Tahnee and I, we found Sirius Black-"

"You found him!" Lia cried, grabbing Ellie's arm. "Where? Is he okay?!"

"Tahnee said he'd been bitten by a snake, and we didn't know how to heal it- she's with him now... We decided he was innocent. He is, isn't he?"

Remus nodded. "Where are they?"

"Uh," Ellie looked around her, "I don't know. I think we're lost."

Remus felt his heart sink, but Lia seemed undaunted. "You said Tahnee was with him?"

Ellie nodded and then watched, amazed, as Lia cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted a noise that sounded like "_Coo-ee_!"

She was even more amazed when she heard the noise yelled back at them. "Come on!" urged Lia, "Let's go!"

Every few minutes Tahnee would hear Lia 'coo-ee' and she'd reply. She was glad to hear them getting closer, as Sirius was in bad shape. He hadn't woken again and his skin was turning gray. She'd wet his face with a water charm and applied pressure to bite, something which she remembered Muggles did.

Finally she could hear Remus, Ellie and Lia's footsteps and she called them over. 

"Where was he bitten?" asked Remus, wasting no time.

Tahnee showed him. Remus performed a handful of not-so-simple Healing Charms (made more difficult by the fact that he was using Sirius' wand) and the bite disappeared. 

"Will he be all right?" Lia asked anxiously.

Remus shrugged uncomfortably. "We might be too late. We'll just have to wait and see if he wakes up." He sounded calmer than he looked, but his reassuring voice calmed Lia down enough to turn to Tahnee.

"What are you doing here!" she said loudly, "I told you to stay in England!"

Tahnee shrugged. "Blah, blah, rhubarb. If we hadn't come then Sirius would be pushing up daisies and God knows what trouble you two'd be in."

At her words, Remus remembered Lia's show, but decided he would wait before he brought it up. Lia didn't even appear to have remembered doing it, as she was busy being worried about Sirius and trying to be mad at Tahnee.

Tahnee made everyone have a drink of water, again supplied by her wand, and then there was nothing to do but wait for Sirius to wake up or die.

Once Hermione and Ginny managed to track each other down, they sat in an empty classroom and Hermione explained what she'd found.

"It's an unbelievably complicated curse," she said, handing Ginny a book so old the title had worn off. It was opened to a page on the 'Oblivio curse.' 

"There's only one record of the curse ever being used, and that was thousands of years ago," Hermione went on in a rush. She was quite excited, and couldn't seem to sit still. "If it's pulled off correctly, the person being cursed is forgotten."

"Forgotten?"

"Wiped out completely! Every single person they knew just forgets them and all record of them disappears. According to the logic of the spell, if nobody remembers you, how can you exist? The person doesn't die, not really; they just go to another realm. I'll bet she met You-Know-Who when she went to help Sirius, and he cursed her. I have no idea how this notebook could have survived."

"But why is Lia back?"

Hermione started pacing. "Like I said before, it's a very difficult spell. Only the most powerful of wizards, like Dumbledore or You-Know-Who, would be able to do it, and even then it's hard to completely wipe the memory of every acquaintance, and the spell has even less effect on Diviners," Hermione pulled a face at this before she continued. "I'll bet somebody remembered Lia, and that's how she was able to come back. She probably came back just to help you, Gin."

Ginny sighed. "This is getting heavy. What do we do? Go to Dumbledore?"

Hermione bit her lip. "What would he do if he found out you were a Sabi? I bet he'd hide you away, with a Fidelity charm or something. 

I think we should wait for Lia to get back."

Ginny nodded. "That's probably best. This is amazing, Hermione. This is really big stuff." 

Ginny had realized, from reading Lia's notebook, what danger she was in. She felt suddenly isolated, and wondered if anybody could understand what she was feeling, the fear of knowing Voldemort was looking to kill you...

She said good-bye to Hermione and went to find Harry. 

Sirius' mind felt like a small pouch that had suddenly had a dragon shoved into it. It was bursting at the seems. He remembered Lia with such clarity that he could hardly believe he'd forgotten her in the first place. 

He slowly became aware of the rocks and sticks under his back, the chirping of the crickets around him and the endless bickering of Tahnee and Remus. With much effort, he opened his eyes and sat up.

It was a moment before anyone even noticed, but when they did there was much confusion and talking at once. Finally, Sirius clapped loudly. "Will someone please," he said, "tell me what is going on?"

It took well over an hour for Remus to bring Sirius up to speed, mostly because Sirius was thinking about Lia and not what Remus was saying.

"Well," said Ellie once Remus was done, "what do we do now?"

Remus was about to answer when he felt a familiar pain in his side.

"Padfoot," he told his friend softly, but urgently, "it's a full moon." 

It took Sirius' still-fuzzy mind a second to register what this meant. When it did, he jumped up so fast Ellie wondered if another snake had bit him. "Moony! What do we do?"

"What's wrong?" Tahnee asked. "I've camped out in the bush before; you don't need to panic." 

Remus sighed, realizing he had no choice but to tell the girls what he was. And fast. "Look," he said, "don't be scared and please, don't hate me, but- I'm a werewolf."

Sirius glared at the girls, as if daring them to scream or something. Ellie gasped. Tahnee raised an eyebrow and looked thoughtful, and Lia didn't look shocked at all.

"I am a werewolf," Remus repeated, "and tonight is a full moon."

"So I repeat," Sirius said, "what do we do?"

"Are you up to Apparating?" Lia asked. Sirius tried, then shook his head.

Tahnee bit her lip. "Then we make like Blinky Bill and climb the trees."

Sirius looked doubtful. "Climb the trees?"

"Werewolves can't climb, can they? We should be safer up there."

There was no time for anyone to come up with a better idea, because Remus suddenly cried out in pain as the changes began.

Sirius ran towards a tree and Lia (dragging a still quite stunned Ellie with her) to another.

Tahnee lagged behind. She pulled her ribbon from her hair and grabbed her wand. 

"What are you doing?" Remus gasped through the pain. "Get out of here!"

Tahnee ignored him and tied her wand to his leg. 

"Now you won't die come morning," she said before she raced off and joined Sirius up his tree.

Tahnee and Sirius sat in silence, listening to Remus' anguished howls. Tahnee desperately wished she could block them out, but even when she plugged her ears she could hear them. And it didn't help that she was in the tree with a man she'd previously thought to be evil. 

"Oh," said Sirius, "I wonder if Remus will eat Peter and his friend."

Tahnee shrugged, even though Sirius probably couldn't see her do it, and said, "Do you remember talking to me and Ellie?"

Sirius looked at his hands. "I remember you kicking me, but it all gets hazy after that."

Tahnee sighed. She was not usually unsure of what to say, but even she could see that she needed to treat the topic gingerly. "You were kind of delirious," she said. "You, uh, were saying that you'd met me before, and you were saying hi to my friend Clar. And you said you remembered Lia."

"Oh. Do you remember her?"

"Yes. Do you?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, and Tahnee was about to poke him and check to see if he was still awake (though she didn't know how he could possibly be asleep) when he answered. "Yes." He picked at the branch he was sitting on. "I don't get it. I remember the cave, with Voldemort. And I remember he said it would be like she never existed and then- nothing. It _was _like she never existed. What happened?"

"I dunno exactly. Neither does she."

"Well, why did she come back?"

"She was sent back because there's another Sabi out there she has to help." Tahnee paused, and, feeling a bit like Peter Pettigrew, she went on. "Look, Sirius, you can't tell Lia you remember her."

"What? Why?"

"Because, she's here to stop the Sabi from ending up like she did, and she's not really doing a bang-up job as it is. She's tramping about the Australian bush when she should be at Hogwarts. And if she found out you remembered..."

"I understand."

"So you won't tell her?"

Sirius sighed. "No."

Morning was a long time coming, and I don't think anyone got any sleep. Ellie spent half the night in shock and the other half gibbering on incoherently.

I spent the night trying to stop myself from pushing her out of the tree for betraying me. 

I was in a very bad mood by the time morning rolled around.

We waiting until the sun was well and truly shining before we climbed down. Tahnee yawned and scratched her head.

"Don't tell me you slept?" I demanded, instantly jealous.

She grinned slightly. "Well, I was tired. But does anyone have any idea how we're gonna find wolf-boy now?"

"We could send sparks up in the air?" suggested Ellie.

Sirius shook his head. "Wormtail and co. are still out there."

We all stood around, wondering what to do, when the problem was solved for us.

Remus Apparated into the clearing. He looked absolutely awful.

"Oh, good. You're still here," he said. He looked down at Tahnee's wand. "Took me a few tries to get here. Your wand is insane."

Tahnee grinned happily. "I know."

Sirius rubbed his eyes. "Shall we go, then? I'm good to Apparate."

Remus shook his head. "We're one wand short."

I sighed. "So we walk, then."

It was one very tired, grumpy and dirty group of wizards that stumbled into Mandrah late that afternoon.

They didn't even notice the startled looks of the clerks at Lia, Sirius and Remus' hotel as they staggered up stairs to their room. There were only three beds, but Tahnee didn't care; she collapsed onto the floor and didn't move.

Lia went straight for the shower, Ellie and Sirius both fell onto beds and almost instantly fell asleep, and Remus began to write a letter to Dumbledore.

"Why are you doing that? Aren't you tired?" Tahnee asked him from the floor. "I imagine you had less sleep than I did."

Remus shrugged. "It needs to be done."

"Yes, it does. Later."

Remus scowled. "Go back to sleep."

She sat up. "I'm not tired."

"For crying out loud, can you stop being so difficult?"

Tahnee stood up. "Just because you're in a bad mood, don't take it out on me!"

"I would have to take it out on you if you'd just shut. The. Hell. Up!" 

Tahnee glared. "Terribly sorry, your highness. Please, do forgive me."

"Good God, you're so infuriating!"

Sirius opened an eye. "Would both of you please shut up?"

"Mind your own business, Black!" Tahnee yelled. She was worked up now, and she wanted to scream, or break things, or break people.

Lia stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed Tahnee's arm. Tahnee visibly relaxed, but still glared at Remus. "Sorry," she said in a soft, menacing voice, "I should know better than to waste my words on a werewolf."

Ron didn't really like to read. He only read if a teacher insisted upon it, and occasionally he read the newspaper or a book on Quidditch. Which is why he didn't bother to read Hermione's notebook. Not at first, but Harry was being no fun and he really had nothing better to do.

So he barely noticed when Ginny came in and whispered something to Hermione, or when they left the room together.

He did notice, though, when Hermione snatched the notebook from his hands and screeched, "Ron! Where did you find this?!"

You have failed. Master is very disappointed in you. If either of you value your well-being, do not return without the wolf. Understood?

Authors note: Thanks to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading (I looked up fidelity, attack of the peanut butter brains, lol) and thanks to everyone who reviewed and thanks to everyone at Penumbra fic.


	13. Missing People

Disclaimer: If J.K.Rowling owns it, I don't.

Second Chances

chapter thirteen: Missing People

"Do they have them yet?"

"Soon, my Lord."

"Soon is not good enough. Their failure will be your failure."

"I understand, my Lord."

Hermione ignored Ron at breakfast the next morning. He couldn't see what he'd done wrong. He'd found the notebook lying around and she hadn't even given him time to explain before she snatched it back and left.

__

Still, Ron mused, _she's cute when she's mad..._

Ron hit his head to clear it of such thoughts, then looked up at Hermione and flashed a grin he'd been practicing all summer. "Hermi, what's a Sabi?"

Hermione scowled, but, as Ron had known, couldn't resist answering a question. "The Sabi were a race of magical sub-humans whose blood could do amazing things, even make people immortal. They all killed themselves years ago to escape Voldemort, who planned to use them to make himself indestructible."

"And there are none left?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Ron sighed and looked hurt, "Hermione, I thought you promised not to keep any more secrets after the Time Turner fiasco."

Hermione bit her lip. "I know..."

"And here you are, being all secretive."

"I know..."

Ron thought for a moment. It was time to use the wild card. "And you know Harry's going through a really hard time. He needs your support Hermione, he doesn't need you keeping secrets from him!"

Now Hermione looked really guilty. "Ron, I want to tell you, but it's up to Ginny more than me."

Ron grinned. "Come on, we'll go find her."

Morning rose over Mandrah and Tahnee was nowhere to be found. After her fight with Remus, she'd left and still hadn't returned. Lia was worried.

Remus was not.

"We need to keep moving," Sirius said. After a quick meeting the night before (which Remus hadn't participated in), Sirius, Ellie and Lia had decided that they should try to find Peter and his partner. Sirius recalled seeing a Muggle brochure for a town called Bunbury on the dash of the bus, and they figured that was probably where Wormtail was headed next. Sirius didn't need to point out that if they found Wormtail, he could become a free man.

"But what about Tahnee?" argued Ellie. "We can't just leave her behind."

"Why not?" Remus shot back. "She's a big girl; she can look after herself."

Lia sighed. "I think we should just go. If she wants to catch up, she will."

Sirius nodded his agreement, eager to get going, and Ellie sighed in defeat.

"It's settled, then." Remus stood. "Let's go."

Ginny stopped Harry when he was on his way to breakfast.

"I need to talk to you," she said, and dragged him into an empty classroom.

"What is it?" Harry asked, his thoughts more on bacon and toast than what Ginny had to say.

"Have you ever heard of a Sabi?" Ginny asked, and Harry wracked his brain.

"I think I have... They talk to animals, don't they?"

Ginny nodded, but before she could continue, the door opened and Hermione and Ron entered. 

"Ginny," Ron said, practically bouncing from foot to foot, "Hermione says she'll tell me the secret you two have been keeping, if you'll let her. What is it?"

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and reached an agreement. Ginny waited until Ron was seated. "Ever heard of a Sabi?"

Dayna Morgan was a very observant little girl. Her voice was very small, and she often wasn't heard, so she looked instead of speaking.

She was with her mum on a train trip to Bunbury to see her grandmother. She liked trains, because there were lots of funny people to look at.

The people sitting across from her kept her occupied for hours. There was a tired-looking man with almost gray hair. He was scowling like somebody had upset him.

Next to Scowling Man was a very skinny man with black hair. He wasn't scowling but he looked troubled, like he had something very important to think about.

Next was a woman who kept looking over at the skinny man, and next to her was a woman who looked very guilty.

Dayna would have liked to eavesdrop on their conversation, but her mother tapped her on the shoulder and told her to stop staring.

When I went to get something to eat from the food carriage, Remus followed me. He bought an orange juice (I had to handle the money for him) but I soon guessed that an orange juice craving was not the reason he was there.

"Lia," he said in a carriage that was empty except for an old lady with a hearing aid laying on her lap, "I'm not very good at beating around the bush, so I'm just going to come out and ask you."

"Ask me what?" I felt oddly nervous.

"In the cabin, you displayed powers that resemble that of a Sabi."

"Oh. Did I?"

"Yes. Are you one?"

I quickly considered possible lies, coming up only with the truth. "Yes."

He sat down on a seat, looking but slightly surprised. "I thought so. Um, how?"

"That's a long story for another day. But Remus, please don't tell anybody. Not even Sirius. I'm sure you understand how important it is that nobody knows what I am."

He nodded. "Of course, but wouldn't Wormtail and company have figured it out as well?"

"Voldemort already knows was I am."

Now Remus was stunned. "Then why aren't you dead?"

"I don't know." I neglected to mentioned that I had been, once.

"Is that why there was a Dark Mark in your room?"

I nodded. "I think so. I'd thought Voldemort didn't know where I was, but obviously, he did. In any case, I don't want to talk about it."

"I understand," he said with a look that suggested he didn't. We made our way back to Sirius and Ellie.

The old lady, who wasn't really an old lady at all, grinned, and if rats could grin then the one in her pocket would have done also.

Harry didn't pay much attention for the rest of the day. Hermione and Ginny's story was quite a lot to swallow, and had it been anyone else, Harry doubted he would have believed them.

The notebook came as a shock as well. He hadn't had time to read it, but Hermione had told him the basic story. She'd also said that she and Ginny thought it could be a real account. If it was, he was eager to read it just for the mention of his parents.

He wondered how Ginny could seem so calm about having Voldemort after her, then realized most people must wonder that about himself.

Harry also worried about Sirius, who was on a mission for Dumbledore with Lia at the moment. If Lia was a Sabi as well, then Sirius was in more danger than usual. 

For an extinct species, Sabi seemed to be popping up everywhere.

Had Remus, Ellie, Sirius and Lia decided to wait for Tahnee, they would have been waiting for a long time.

By the time lunchtime rolled around she was back in her home town, The Point.

Sitting on a park bench eating hot chips and watching the sea gulls fight for her attention, her thoughts wondered.

She hadn't meant to mention Remus' lycanthropy, she honestly hadn't. Sure, she'd been a bit put off by it at first, but she'd once toured the Christmas Islands with a vampire and hag, so she could handle a werewolf.

She just got so mad; lack of sleep and excessive stress, she supposed. The dreams weren't helping her state of mind at all, and they weren't helping Lia's love life, either.

Tahnee shook her head to clear it of unwanted thoughts and started to walk towards the town graveyard. Lia's aunt had been more of a mother to her than her real mum- of course, that was until Lia disappeared of the face of the Earth. Still, she owed it to her to at least visit the grave.

Tahnee wasn't really sure how long she sat staring at the simple but pleasant headstone, but it must have been a while because by the time she took notice of her surroundings, sunset was approaching. _The snakes will be dancing soon_, she thought, _coming to tap the last of the day's heat from the larger headstones_.

She stood, shook the dust from her knees and turned to walk away. She didn't get very far, though, because she walked right into Lia's cousin and her former enemy, Celia Hart.

Remus quickly decided he liked Bunbury more than Mandrah. It was defiantly cooler, and Lia said this was because of the sea breeze.

Sirius would have liked the small city, too, had he been paying attention, which he wasn't. It was understandable, really, after all, he'd just had countless memories dumped into his head of the girl walking next to him, but he couldn't let her know that he had them.

He wondered what Tahnee's reasons were for swearing him to secrecy. The reasons she'd given him were plausible and even logical, but he couldn't help but feel there was more to it.

Sirius had learned long ago to trust his instincts.

Lia, Sirius, Ellie and Remus had lunch on the beach. Seagulls were everywhere and there was the faint smell of coconut suntan lotion in the air.

"Where do we go from here?" Ellie asked, breaking the silence that seemed to reign more frequently now that Tahnee was gone.

Lia shrugged. "We only guessed that they would be coming here. I suppose we just keep our ears open."

"You mean we sit around and wait for them to kill someone?" Remus asked, scowling at the sky.

Sirius sighed. "I hate this. I hate Wormtail!"

Lia decided that they would have to do what Tahnee would do. Then she realized that Tahnee would probably jump up and chase the seagulls. Perhaps Plan B was in order?

"Look," she said, "none of us are psychic. We can't predict their every move! Let's just go to the bus stations and the train stations and see if anybody has seen two men matching Peter and his friend's description."

Sirius didn't look like he was about to jump for joy at the idea, but he agreed it was better than doing nothing.

They decided that Remus and Sirius would take the bus station, and Ellie and Lia would take the train. They would meet back at the beach then find somewhere to spend the night. Lia felt slightly nervous about leaving Remus and Sirius on their own, but Remus had reminded her that after Auror training, they could take anything.

"He's going bald, comes up to my shoulders..." Sirius sighed as the ticket seller shook her head.

"Mind you, I don't see everyone that goes by and," she added, popping her gum, "I've only been on shift for ten minutes, didja say they came on the train from Mandrah?"

Remus nodded.

"Then yiz'll be betta off asking Shawn Austle. He was on shift before me, that's him over there." She pointed to a blond-haired boy sitting on a bench some distance off, pulling on shoes, looking like he was ready to leave.

Remus sighed. He didn't like the idea of talking to another of these... Australians. They reminded him of Tahnee, someone whom he did not want to be reminded of.

"Are you Shawn Austle?" Sirius asked when they reached him. 

He looked up. "Surely am," he said slowly, looking curiously at Remus and Sirius. "Why?"

"We were wondering if you'd seen two men." Sirius went on the describe them and Shawn thought for a while.

"I think I did... Yeah, yeah I did. The bald one's pretty jumpy, ain't he? Don't know where they were going, though."

"Did they have any bags?" Sirius asked.

Shawn shrugged. "Don't think so. I didn't see none."

"Thanks for the help," Sirius said. Once they were out of hearing range, he turned to Remus. "If they had no bags, then they haven't got anything like clothes."

"Neither have we," Remus pointed out to his friend, not knowing where he was going with that particular statement.

"If they've got no stuff then they'll probably be buying new stuff now. In the stores here. It's worth a look; we might see them. And besides, we can buy new things while we're there."

"Sirius, are you sure that's wise? Neither of us is familiar with this country or its currency, and we barely know how to get back to the beach from here..."

"Remus, you worry far to much. We're not fifteen, you know; I'm sure we can handle it. All of these people can't be like Tahnee."

Remus scowled slightly at the mention of Tahnee's name, but still agreed to Sirius' plan.

Our trip to the bus station was fruitless. Nobody had seen anyone even remotely fitting Peter or his partner's description.

Ellie sighed. "Maybe Remus and Sirius had more luck."

I shrugged and looked at my watch. "I hope so. In any case, it's too early to go and wait for them. We should go and buy new clothes and things."

"Do you have any money?"

I nodded. 

"Well, all right then."

Remus and Sirius were quite overwhelmed. It wasn't that the Bunbury Center-Point Shopping Forum was all that big, but it was very Muggle and very foreign.

"What about in there?" Sirius pointed to a shop called Games World.

Remus rolled his eyes. "We are here to look for necessities and Wormtail, not games."

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe Peter is in there. Let's look, just in case."

Peter wasn't in the small store, but it was quite a while before Remus could drag Sirius away.

After buying clothes from Muggle clothing stores, which took longer than it really should have, the two sat on a bench in the center of the forum to gather their wits before continuing on to the beach. 

It was here that Sirius caught a glimpse of a familiar balding head entering a large store, 'Big W.'

"Wormtail sighting," he muttered to Remus. Without pausing, they quickly made their way into the store he'd entered.

As Ellie and I were both familiar with the Muggle world, it didn't take us long to buy the things we needed.

Funnily enough, it was harder being around Ellie than it was being around Sirius. I desperately wanted to know why she'd betrayed me to Voldemort. I didn't believe that she was in league with him, otherwise she would have told him about the potion. Once again, my life was full of questions with no answers in sight.

We were looking in Big W for things like toothpaste, soap and chocolate bars when I saw a familiar man picking flicking through a magazine. I peered at him for a moment before I realized who it was.

"Ellie," I muttered, "it's the man from the bus."

"Oh! Oh!" She looked around, "What do we do?"

I was about to shrug when Bus Man was joined by none other than Wormtail himself.

What happened next happened quickly. Sirius and Remus jumped into view. Sirius yelled out and a few people standing around backed up to watch.

Wormtail ducked a punch aimed at him by Remus and Bus Man pulled out his wand. He whispered something I didn't catch and Sirius' face twisted with anger.

Ellie and I didn't move. I had no idea what to do.

With his wand still out, Bus Man and Wormtail walked away, taking Remus with them.

Sirius made an effort to follow, but Wormtail, with his wand up his sleeve, turned and Stunned him.

Only then did I manage to move. I ran to make sure Sirius was all right, and Ellie attempted to follow Remus, Wormtail and Bus Man. She came back only seconds later, saying that they had Apparated.

In a matter of minutes, things had gone from bad to worse.

"How hard can it be, Ginny? All you've got to do is lift the quill!"

Ginny glared at her brother. "_With my mind_, Ron. My mind doesn't have hands!"

"Don't worry," Hermione waved her hand at Lia's book, "it took Lia awhile, as well."

Ron scowled. "Well, it's late and I am not in the mood to be watching Ginny stare at a quill!"

Harry cleared his throat and, thankfully, Ron shut up. "What we really need to find out," he said, "is what happens once the notebook ends."

Hermione nodded. "I agree, but I don't see how. Only Lia and You-Know-Who would know, and with Lia unreachable right now and You-Know-Who being You-Know-Who, we're at a bit of a dead end."

Harry frowned slightly. "Next Hogsmeade weekend, we should visit this cave. Do you think it's the same one Sirius hides in?"

Hermione nodded. "Probably."

"The next Hogmseade trip is a week away. Shall we go then?"

The three nodded, and with that taken care of, Ron and Ginny resumed their argument.

__

We have the werewolf and will be returning as soon as possible. The Sabi still lives, but that will be taken care of.

x

Authors note: Thanks be to Lone Astronomer for beta-reading, and thanks be to all that review. Only four more days until the holidays! *dances happily*


	14. Against All Odds

Disclaimer: Anything that is owned by J.K.Rowling does and belong to me and the song _Against All Odds_ belongs to Phil Colins.

Second Chances

Chapter fourteen: Against All Odds

The night sky was darker than normal due to the thick black storm clouds. The air was thick with the a humid promise of rain, making the hairs on the back on Remus neck tingle.

He was in a tiny room with a window the size of a book. He had no idea where he was, or what Wormtail and his partner wanted him for.

He heard the click as the room's only door was unlocked, and turned to see Wormtail walk in.

"Hello, Peter," he said, feeling weary.

"Remus," his former friend leaned against the wall. "How have you been?"

Remus shook his head, already sick of the fake politeness. "Why am I here, Peter? What do you want with me?"

"My master wants you."

"Why?"

"I didn't ask," he replied delicately. "In any case, Remus, my lord is in England, not in this backward excuse for a country. We'll be leaving in an hour."

Wormtail left and the shutting of the door was punctuated by a clap of thunder that seemed to rumble on forever.

The thunder made Tahnee's teacup shake, and she steadied it with her hand.

"There's a summer storm on the way," Celia commented with a slight wince.

Tahnee smiled. "Are you still scared of thunder?"

Celia scowled. "Are you still scared of ducks?"

Tahnee chuckled softly. Celia looked very much like a Muggle in her stylish business suit. She'd been out of the country when her mother had died, and had only been back for a week. "So... You have a Muggle job?" Tahnee asked, grasping for conversation topics.

Celia nodded. "Yes; I never did make much of a witch."

Tahnee smiled. "I remember."

Another flash of lightning lit the sky. "Anyway, Tahnee, have you got somewhere to stay tonight?" 

"Not really, can I stay here?"

"Yes, but it's a Muggle house, so we could have a black-" She was cut off when the two women were immersed in darkness- "out."

Tahnee was about to spout a witty comment when an attack was launched on her senses.

__

The room was more of a closet than a room. The only illumination was supplied by the weak moonlight that managed to make its way threw the clouds and the occasional flash of lightning.

He leaned against the wall, trying to get some sleep. The thunder was getting louder, and soon it would be raining. He could hear footsteps, and the door opened-

Tahnee snapped back to reality and groaned.

"Tahnee?" Celia was giving her an odd look. "Are you all right?"

"Umm, sure. Say, Celia, you want to come with me to rescue a guy who hates me?"

Celia raised an eyebrow. "I'd forgotten how insane you are."

With nothing they could do, Lia, Sirius and Ellie checked into a hotel.

"I hate this," Sirius said to Lia while Ellie was in the shower. "Remus needs us and we're sitting back on our asses."

Lia sighed. "We have no idea were he is, and all of our charms have come up blank. We'll think of something, Sirius, but if we don't rest we'll be useless."

Sirius said nothing and was suddenly aware of the fact that he was talking to Lia for the first time since he remembered who she really was. He'd thought his brain was completely taken up with worrying about Remus, but it considerately made room for him to feel unsure of what to say or do around Lia.

Ellie came out of the shower, drying her hair with a Drying Charm and looking thoughtful.

"I was thinking, we should try and find out who Wormtail's partner actually is."

"What we should be doing," Sirius said, trying not to sound angry, "is finding Remus!"

Ellie shrugged. "When you can answer the questions of how, Sirius, then we will."

Sirius scowled and decided he was in a bad mood, which was understandable under the circumstances.

Ellie shook her head and sat at the Muggle computer which came with the room. She had to use one occasionally for her Muggle job, so she was familiar with the workings of it. She opened up the Internet and spent the next few hours scouring all Muggle articles on the wave of murders. 

She was just about to give up, partly due to the oncoming lightning storm, when she finally found what she was looking for.

"Lia, Sirius!" she called, feeling quite proud of herself, "come here!"

Lia and Sirius came from various rooms of the suite and stood next to her. 'You know how to work that thing?" Sirius asked in disgust. "What kind of witch are you?"

Ellie shrugged off his bad-tempered remark, "I found out who Wormtail's partner is!"

"Really?" Lia peered at the computer as though it might bite her. "Who?"

"A Mr. Hugh Ledger. He's Australian and has a Muggle crime record."

"Well, at least we have a name now," Lia said thoughtfully. "I was getting sick of calling him 'Wormtail's partner.'"

"This is all good," said Sirius, "but what does it have to do with finding Remus?"

Ellie raised an eyebrow at him. "I was just getting to that. He owns a house in Perth. Perhaps we should check it out?"

Sirius nodded. "Let's go. Now."

Lia rolled her eyes. "We know he has a house in Perth, do we know its address?"

"Uh, no."

Sirius groaned.

"There's a picture, though." Ellie brought up a picture of a modest, typical home.

Lia inspected the photo. "Oh!" She pointed, "Look at that in the background!"

Sirius and Ellie looked. "'Bayswater Pub.'" Ellie shrugged. "It's helpful, but Perth is a big place."

"Bayswater is a suburb; there can't be more than one Bayswater Pub in Bayswater!"

Ellie nodded. "Well, we're on our way then. Maybe we should see if we can find out anything about Ledger. At the pub."

Sirius threw his hands in the air. "Why? We should rescue Remus, _then_ worry about getting to know Ledger."

"So far he's proved himself a powerful enemy," Ellie argued. "We need to find weaknesses! And he might have wards around his house."

Sirius scowled, but Lia agreed with Ellie, so he was effectively outvoted.

Tahnee and Celia really had nothing to talk about as Celia drove them both to Perth. Celia wasn't eager to drive with the promise of an oncoming storm, but Tahnee had reasoned that it would be fine if she just sped the whole way.

Celia wasn't sure she liked Tahnee's logic.

"Do you have an address?" she asked.

Tahnee bit her lip. "No, but I'll know where to go."

"I can't believe I'm doing this. I don't even believe in Divination."

"You've been around Muggles for too long."

Neither said anything for an hour. They'd just passed Mandrah when Celia asked, "Did you ever find that Lia girl you were ranting on about?"

"Yes."

"Really? So she did exist, then?"

"Yes."

"But she didn't go to Ombigono, like you so passionately insisted?"

"Look, it's complicated, and there ain't no point in beating a dead horse."

Celia said nothing more, and soon after, Tahnee fell asleep. And with sleep, came the dreams.

__

The sun is setting, and she quickly hurries down the street, eager to get home while it's still light.

But she lives ten minutes away, and it will be dark in five. She can only hope that they will let her go, or don't notice that she's even out.

It's a foolish hope, of course; they don't miss anyone.

She runs up to the door of the next house she passes and pounds on the door. "Please," she calls, "it's nearly dark... I live too far away..."

The door opens a crack and a scared face peers out. "I'm sorry," he says, "I-it's too risky, don't know who you can trust... I'm sorry." 

The door slams.

She runs to the next house, and the next, with the same answer every time.

Darkness falls. She runs for her home. She doesn't make it.

Nobody ever makes it.

She was awoken mere miles out of Perth when Celia's car let out a series of bangs and gently rolled to a stop.

Celia and Tahnee both jumped out in time to see smoke begin to seep from under the bonnet.

"Celia, do you know anything about cars?"

"No. Do you?"

Tahnee gingerly poked at a tire with her foot, forcing her dream from her mind. "No, but I think it's safe to say it's cactus."

"I think it's safe to say you're right."

It wasn't at all difficult to find the Bayswater Pub. Sirius was still insistent that we go straight to Ledger's home, and it took Ellie and I a good half hour to talk him into continuing with our original plan.

The pub was nothing special as far as pubs go; it was dimly lit and the ceiling could not be seen through the cloud of cigarette smoke. There were two pool tables over by the wall, and a karaoke machine.

Thankfully, nobody was singing.

We pushed our way through the crowd and sat at the bar.

The bar maid, a dark-skinned woman with curly, wild black hair smiled at Sirius. "What'll it be, luv?"

"Uh," Sirius look desperately at me, "a beer. Three beers."

"What kind of beer?"

"Um..."

"You're not from around here, are ya?"

I took pity on him. "We'll have three Swan Lagers."

She quickly poured our drinks and set them down in front of us. "So," said the bar maid, "where ya from?"

She was talking to Sirius again, who did not seem at all pleased with the attention. "Oh, we're from Britain. Well, two of us are; Lia, she's from Australia."

"I'm Lia," I smiled. "I've just come home to see my olds; brought a few mates with me."

"Ah. I'm Joclyn." She looked at Sirius and Ellie, "This'll be your first time here, then?"

Sirius nodded and Ellie tried not to spit her mouthful of beer right back out again.

"Maybe you can help me," I went on. "I'm trying to find an old someone, he lives around here, Hugh Ledger?"

"Yeah sure, known him since I was just a little tacker. Even went to school with him."

Sirius stepped in. "Could you give us some information about him?"

"I could..."

"Will you?"

"I think I could do that, but you'll have to do something for me first."

He smirked, slowly slipping back into his role as the charming guy at the bar. "What would that be?"

Joclyn jerked her thumb at the stage and the karaoke machine. "'Aven't had no-one sing all night. What we need is someone to get the ball rolling."

"You want me to sing?"

"I surely do. One song and I'll tell ya all you ever wanted to know about Hugh."

Sirius squirmed. "I don't sing."

Ellie and I smirked.

"Don't be such a gutless wonder, everybody sings, and the girls go wild for a guy with an accent."

"But I don't listen to music at all, really. I wouldn't know a song from a toilet."

Joclyn laughed. "It won't kill ya to give it a shot." She shuffled about under the bar for a moment, "Here we go," she handed Sirius a list. "Pick a song, any song. Just not an AC/DC, the blokes have been playing that all night and it's driving me absolutely barney."

Sirius scanned the list. "I haven't heard of any of these songs."

"Then just close your eyes and poke at one."

Deciding he had no better option, Sirius closed his eyes and randomly jabbed at a song.

"_Against All Odds_? Good choice, don't worry if ya don't know the words. I've got the lyrics down here somewhere." 

Sirius sighed. "I don't sing." He turned to me, "Is this really necessary?"

I shook my head, grinning. "No, but I really want to hear you sing."

He scowled and Joclyn handed us the lyrics. He read through them and sighed. "Is there any way for us to get out of this?"

"'Fraid not, lovvie." Joclyn grinned and then jumped up onto the bar. "Listen up!" she hollered over the noise, "we got a chappie 'ere who's gonna sing for us!"

A cheer went up, and Sirius looked absolutely petrified. "I don't sing!" he moaned one last time, and Ellie pushed him towards the stage.

The opening notes of "_Against All Odds_" were heard and Sirius began to sing, reading from the screen. He started of pretty weakly at first, but quickly gained confidence as he went along, and it turned out he was a rather good singer.

__

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace?

When I stand here taking every breath with you.

You're the only one who really knew me at all.

How can you just walk away from me, when all I can do is watch you leave?

'Cos we've shared the laughter and the pain, even shared the tears.

You're the only one who really knew me at all.

So take a look at me now, there's just an empty space,

And there's nothing left to remind me, just the memory of your face.

Take a look at me now, 'cos there's just an empty space,

And you coming back to me is against all odds 

And that's what I've got to face.

I wish I could just make you turn around, turn around and see me cry,

There's so much I need to say to you, so many reasons why.

You're the only one, who really knew me at all.

So take a look at me now, 'cos there's just an empty space,

And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face.

Take a look at me now, 'cos there's just an empty space,

But to wait for you, well that's all I can do 

And that's what I've got to face.

Take a good look at me now, 'cos I'll still be standing here,

And you coming back to me is against all odds

That's the chance I've got to take.

Just take a look at me now.

Ginny sat in a common room chair watching Harry work himself up to starting his Potions homework. Hermione was in the library, researching Sabi, and Ron had somehow gotten himself a detention. It was raining outside and she was bored. She looked over at Harry and told him this.

Harry agreed that it was, in fact, a boring day, but what could you do?

Ginny sighed. Harry sighed. Ginny sighed again. Harry started his homework.

Ginny spent the next half an hour giving herself a headache by trying to lift Harry's inkwell with her mind.

Well, she wasn't really trying, so you can imagine her shock when the inkwell floated lazily above their heads.

I sure you can also imagine Harry's annoyance when it fell and spilled all over his homework.

Authors note: I know this took a while, and I know it's pretty short and a page of it is just lyrics, but you can forgive me just this once, can't you? I've been planning fics for when this finishes, and schools just gone back... Chapter fifteen shouldn't take to long though.

Thanks go to Lone Astronomer for beta reading, the gang over at Penumbra fic for reminding me that there _are _people out there more insane than I, and to everyone who has reviewed so far.


	15. On The Edge Of Existence

Disclaimer: I don't own what J.K.Rowling and Warner bros. do, and I am making no profit from this.

Second Chances

Chapter Fifteen : On The Edge Of Existence

*

Tahnee and Celia sat on the bonnet of Celia's broken down car, wondering what they should do. Tahnee wanted to simply Apparate to Remus, but as she didn't know exactly where he was there was a risk they'd end up in somewhere like Bolka. So they sat and watched the heavy stormclouds grow closer.

"Maybe we should just walk the rest of the way," Tahnee suggested, eager to save Remus from the dark room.

"Walk where? Tahnee, you don't know where we're going!"

"Yes, I do. We're going to a house."

Celia rolled her eyes. "Spending too much time with you is dangerous to my health."

Tahnee tried to grin, but it didn't quite make it. "We should at least Apparate into the Perth Station," she said, "and catch a train to the house."

"We don't know where the house-" Celia stopped, as Tahnee had already gone.

*

Sirius, Ellie and I left the pub an hour after Sirius' song knowing everything we ever wanted to know about Hugh Ledger. 

He'd been adopted by a Muggle family, but had two pure blooded parents. He'd gone to the same wizarding school as I had, but he'd been a few years above me and I couldn't remember anything about him.

We stood outside the Bayswater Pub, looking at the house from the photo and trying to figure out the best way to advance. I could see that Hugh Ledgers house must once have been a beautiful place to live, but now it was run down and desolate. Sirius was all for barging in, but Ellie wanted to take a more subtle approach. 

Sirius won in the end, his argument being that he'd had to go through the embarrassment of singing, so he should get to decide what we did.

"Maybe we've hit a dead end," Ellie said, eyeing the peeling paint and rusted swing set.

Sirius grabbed her arm and began to drag her up the cracked path. "We won't know until we check this place out."

The locked door was taken care of with a quick Alohomora charm, and we were soon stepping into the front passage.

"What do we do now?" I asked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Sirius shrugged. "We see if Remus is here. REMUS!"

Ellie and I both jumped as he yelled Remus' name. We jumped again when we heard the thump below us.

Sirius didn't pause. He kicked the door next to us open. Behind it was a stair case. I could hear murmured words and footsteps. Sirius made a move to go down the stairs; I reached out to grab his arm and stop him from going any further, but I was too slow: he hit a magical barrier and was thrown well clear of the door with a fizzing sound.

Ellie gasped and rushed to his side. I would have followed, but I'd already seen the figure climbing the stairs.

Wormtail was smirking unpleasantly, twirling a wand between his fingers. He ruined his entrance though, by dropping it.

"Well, well, well," he said, standing behind the barrier, "what have we here?" 

Sirius, leaning on Ellie for support, hobbled over to my side and glared at Peter. "Where's Remus, you slimy rat?"

"Remus who?" Wormtail cackled. "You're too late; he is being taken to my lord." 

I jumped as someone laid a cold hand on my shoulder. "I feel you will soon be joining him."

Hugh Ledger rammed a wand into the small of my back and glanced at Wormtail. "The Sabi and the wolf; the master will be pleased. I trust even you are able to take care of these too?" He jerked his head at Ellie and Sirius.

Sirius looked furious, but was wise enough to say and do nothing. Wormtail nodded.

Ledger gripped my shoulder tightly. "then I shall be off. Come, Lia. Your fate awaits you."

We Disapparated to the sound of a loud crash and Sirius yelling my name.

*

The train steadily made its way towards Bayswater. Celia slept; Tahnee couldn't.

The dreams had been coming more regularly now; she didn't know what that meant. Maybe she wasn't trying hard enough to prevent the future she'd glimpsed. Celia muttered in her sleep and Tahnee sighed. Hadn't Lia already been through enough? The joke that had been Tahnee's life for the past decade looked like a breeze next to what Lia living now. Her own cousin didn't remember her! _Sirius does, though, _a nasty voice in the back of her mind whispered, _but you took care of that, didn't you? _

She scowled to herself- the man across from her thought it was aimed at him and got quite offended and would have said something, but didn't like making scenes- and slumped back into her seat.

*

Remus was still trying to decide if he liked this cell more than the one they had had him in Australia. He was fairly sure Wormtail's partner had brought him back to England, and from the dark hints Wormtail had dropped he had a nasty feeling Voldemort was nearby.

It wasn't even a cell he was in, really, more of a room protected by countless charms to stop him from leaving. The carpet was a cherry apricot color and the walls were yellow. There was a bed, a rocking chair and a bookshelf filled with children's books.

At least the damp and drafty Australian cell fitted his mood.

The door opened. He barely had time to rise from the rocking chair when Lia was shoved inside and the door was closed again.

"Remus!" Lia rushed over and gave him a tight hug. "Thank God you're okay!"

Remus awkwardly patted Lia on the back, and was thankful when she stood back. "What about Sirius and Ellie? Are they okay?"

Lia bit her lip, "I don't know. Last I saw of them, Wormtail had them at wandpoint."

"Sirius can take care of Peter," Remus said firmly, though not really convincingly.

"I'm guessing there's no escape from this room?"

"No, I've tried everything. Even you wouldn't be able to get out."

"Why did they only bring you and I here?" Lia asked, pacing. "Ledger didn't even spare Sirius and Ellie a second glance!"

"Ledger?"

"Wormtail's partner."

"Ah. It's obvious why Voldemort wants you, Lia, though I don't know what he wants with me."

Lia sighed. "He wasn't even supposed to know I was back."

Remus looked at her, confused. "Where did you go?"

For a short moment Remus thought Lia was going to cry, but to his relief, she didn't. "Remus," she said in a hard voice, "you have to kill me."

"What! Lia, are you mad?"

"You know what I am! Voldemort will use that against me again!"

"Again?-"

"Just kill me! Nobody will notice; only Tahnee knows who I am anyway, and she'll understand-"

"Lia, what is going on?"

Lia sat heavily on the bed, scowling. Remus couldn't help but be reminded of a teenager.

"Lia, what is it with you? You come into our lives out of nowhere and within weeks you've turned everything well and truly upside down!" He paused, "I can't help but notice you know an awful lot about Sirius and I, but we know nothing about you."

"You know things about me."

"I wonder how much of it is the truth."

"Remus-"

"Don't, Lia. I'm not going to kill you, and I'm not going to let you kill yourself." With that, he sat back in the rocking chair, wondering why he was so angry.

*

On the morning of the second Hogsmeade afternoon Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione stood outside of Honeydukes, wondering what to do next.

Ginny honestly didn't care what they did; the sun was warming her shoulders and Hermione wasn't making her practice. She could almost forget what she was, or at least might have been able to forget what she was if Ron hadn't kept shooting worried looks at her when he thought she wasn't looking.

"Let's go see if Remus and-," Harry paused, "if Remus is back."

Ginny pretended to ignore his slip. "You go ahead," she said, "I'm going to find a nice sunny patch of grass and go to sleep."

"You sure you'll be okay, Gin?" Ron asked. "I'll come, if you want-"

"Ron, I'll be fine." She gave her brother a reassuring smile, "Really."

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione began to guide him away, "she's not an invalid..."

*

Harry, Hermione and Ron stared at Remus and Sirius' home in shock. It looked like it'd had a fight with a large, angry herd of elephants. Windows were smashed, the door kicked in, and the greenhouse was destroyed beyond recognition.

"Oh, no," breathed Hermione. "Who could have done this?"

"Death Eaters?" Ron suggested. "Maybe it was just... a storm or something."

"Maybe it was Ministry officials looking for Sirius Black," Harry said, quietly.

"No," said Hermione firmly. "If they thought they knew where Sirius was, it would be all over the newspapers, Malfoy would be gloating, Dumbledore would say something... We'd know about it."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Look, Sirius and Remus obviously aren't even back yet. Let's go inside and check out the damage. Maybe there'll be a clue as to who did it."

Harry nodded silently, still not completely convinced Sirius was okay.

Once inside, which was a worse mess than outside, the three spilt up. Harry ended up in Remus' room, which seemed to be in the worst shape of all.

Someone had been searching for something, that much was obvious. Bits of pillow, clothes and papers littered the floor.

He knelt down and picked up a piece of paper. It turned out to be a photo. Remus, Sirius, his mother and father (his heart gave a small jolt when he saw them), Wormtail and three girls he didn't recognize grinned at the camera. The photo Sirius turned and said something to the empty space next to him. Confused, Harry leaned closer to the photo. He could see her faintly- Lia Strummings. She flickered in and out of his sight, and he couldn't seem to focus on her, but she was definitely there. He stood, "Hermione! Ron! I think you want to see this..."

*

"Next stop, Bayswater," a mechanical voice informed Tahnee. She blinked, and shook Celia awake.

"This is our stop."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Celia shrugged with the air of someone who can't be bothered being rational and stood. 

They stood in the bright afternoon sunlight. "Where to now?" She asked Tahnee.

Tahnee thought for a moment. Lia was gone, she could feel it. She was still in danger, but a great distance away. She could still sense Ellie and Sirius, though, and they were close by. She pointed, "That way."

*

Wormtail had Ellie and Sirius seated in the living room of the house, their hands and feet bound. The lounge the two sat on was as old and battered as the rest of the house.

Peter grinned. Having power over Sirius seemed to have gone to his head. He appeared to be giddy. "Do you know what my Lord's going to do to the wolf?" He grinned, "He's going to torture him. Even if tells him what he wants to know right away, he's still going to torture him! And your girlfriend... Oh, she's going to suffer the most unpleasant of deaths. She's going to make my master immortal!"

If he was waiting for a reaction, he'd be waiting a long time. Both Sirius and Ellie stared at him without statement.

"Do you know how?" Wormtail asked with a giggle. He seemed intent on taunting them, even if he wasn't that good at it.

"Do you?" Sirius challenged with a slight scowl.

"Of course! My master trusts me with the most classified of information. He has sought after a Sabi for quite some time now..."

Sirius felt Ellie jump slightly and heard her breathe in sharply. He shot her a quick glance and gasped himself when saw the statement on her face. She looked like he imagined he had when his mind had been assaulted by memories of Lia. The statement passed and was replaced with one of guilt. 

"Oh, God..." she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

Wormtail looked confused. He shrugged slightly to himself and raised his wand. Sirius was satisfied to see his hand was shaking. "It's been nice knowing you, Padfoot; it's a pity things did-"

His speech was cut off by the front door being blown apart and Tahnee stalking in. Behind her was a woman whom Sirius thought at first was a Muggle. He then remembered it was Celia, Lia's cousin.

Wormtail swung his wand around, but Tahnee was far too quick for him. She darted forward and knocked the wand from his hand. With a cry of surprise, Wormtail struck her on the nose.

Celia quickly set about uniting Sirius' bounds, while Tahnee clutching her bleeding nose and looking, madder than a dragon with a blocked sinus, punched Wormtail in the stomach.

Sirius leapt forward and grabbed his former friend by the scruff of the neck.

"Don't kill me!" he whimpered, "Don't kill me!"

Sirius was about to reply that he couldn't think of a reason why he shouldn't when Peter grinned and bit his arm.

Sirius let him go with a sharp cry of pain, and an instant later Peter was replaced by a rat, streaking across the carpet.

Sirius dove after him, and swore as Wormtail managed to get away.

"Damnit!" Sirius punched the wall, "damnit, damnit, damn it!"

Celia untied Ellie, who didn't move. "We have to leave now," she said, gently tugging Ellie's sleeve, "come on."

While Celia tried to coax Ellie into moving, Sirius paced angrily, swearing under his breath.

"Calm down," Tahnee told him.

"Calm down?" Sirius looked at her, "calm down!? That was Peter! I had him and I let him get away, again!"

"I don't care if it was You-Know-Who himself you let get away! Lia's in trouble, and we have to help her. Now."

Sirius calmed slightly. "She's still alive?"

"Yes, I can feel her. She's in trouble, though..."

"Is that why you came back?"

Tahnee nodded, looking slightly troubled.

"I think she's with Remus," Sirius said. "Ledger, Wormtail's partner, said something about taking them both to Voldemort." He scowled, "The slimy rat!"

"Something's wrong with her," Celia called, referring to Ellie. "I think she's in shock or something."

"I think she remembered Lia," Sirius informed Tahnee in a soft undertone.

Tahnee swore, and knelt in front of her. "Ellie, we have to go help Lia. Are you coming?"

"Can't help her," Ellie whispered, sounding like a lost child. "It's my fault..."

"Well, you can apologize when we find her. Ellie, we have to go _now_, are you coming or not?"

Ellie shook her head, and Tahnee stood. "Fine. We'll leave you here then."

"You can't do that," Celia said, appalled. "Look at the state she's in! We have to take her to a hospital. You too," she added to Sirius.

"Don't you know who I am?" Sirius asked her, "I'm Sirius Black! I can't just walk into a hospital. I don't need to, anyway; I'm fine."

Celia looked confused for a moment, then shocked. "Sirius Black? But-"

"Look," Tahnee said impatiently, "Celia, you stay here with Ellie. Take her to a hospital, Sirius and I will go help Lia and Remus."

"Tahnee, what the hell is going on?! _Sirius Black_!"

"Don't worry about it, Celia. Just forget you ever saw him, or I'll make you forget." She turned to Sirius. "Hold my hand; I'll Apparate us there."

It was a sign of just how worried about Lia and Remus Sirius was that he took Tahnee's hand without a second's hesitation, and disappeared from sight seconds later.

Authors note: I'm not even going to try and apologize for how long this took! My modem died and I was attacked by evil writers block, but it's finally here! If you want to be alerted when I post new chapters, (as ff.net no longer provides author alerts) just drop me an e-mail at: mwpp4eva@yahoo.com


	16. Into Motion

Disclaimer: I don't own what JK does.

Second Chances

Chapter sisxteen: Into motion

Remus watched Lia scowling down at her hands and felt guilty. He tried to understand how hard it must be for Lia to be a Sabi. He wondered if that was why she was so understanding about his being a werewolf: she herself had the potential to wreck damage, just as he did. Especially in the wrong hands... He realized with a jolt that they _were_ in the wrong hands.

"Lia," he sighed, "look, I'm sorry."

"You are?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for not killing you. I understand that this is very selfish of me."

"Now you're just mocking me." A faint smile played at the edge of her lips as she looked challengingly at Remus.

"I would never," Remus smiled, and was relieved to see Lia smile back, even if she still did look anxious. "Now that you're feeling less suicidal, perhaps we can try to find a way out of here." Remus eyed the silver-barred window. "How advanced are your powers? You could try to bend the bars."

"They're not that advanced," Lia sighed. "I died before I could get that far."

Remus stared. Lia didn't seem aware of what she'd said. "Excuse me? You died?"

Lia looked startled. "Did I say that?"

He nodded as the door opened. Hugh Ledger entered, followed by two hooded Death Eaters, wands at the ready.

Lia glared and one of the Death Eaters yelped and let his now-liquefied wand splash to the ground.

Ledger smiled. "Who's a clever girl, then? Try anything like that on me, Lia, and you'll be sorry. The Master doesn't need all of your limbs."

Remus slowly stood. "You lay one hand on her," he said in a soft, dangerous voice, "and I swear I will kill you."

Ledger laughed horribly. "Down, boy. No need to get all worked up." With a flick of his wand, Lia and Remus found they were bound and, in Lia's case, blindfolded. Each of the hooded Death Eaters darted forward and grabbed them.

"Come now, children," Ledger said, sounding positively jolly. "My Lord awaits us."

Sirius and Tahnee Apparated into Hogsmeade.

"We have to go to Dumbledore," Sirius said right away.

"The Hogwarts Headmaster?" Tahnee scowled. "Why? Lia needs us; we should be going to her!"

"If Lia and Remus really are in the hands of Voldemort, we'd be insane to anything other than go to Dumbledore! Tahnee, you have to trust me on this!"

She snorted. "Right. I should trust Sirius Black."

Sirius scowled at her. "I've trusted _you_! I haven't told Lia that I remember her, even though you've only given me half-baked reasons not to."

Tahnee looked pained and bit back whatever she'd been planning to say next. "Fine. Fine. _Fine_. We'll go see your precious Headmaster, and then we are going to help Remus. And Lia."

"Deal."

"Don't see why we have to, though," Tahnee added in a calmer voice, as they quickly made their way towards the horseless carriages that waited to take people into Hogwarts. "I've heard that Dumbledore is insane."

"You're one to talk."

__

Nerala Cooper stood at the gate of the old house thinking quickly. 

She had a choice: she could keep going, but there was only a fifty-fifty chance that she'd make it home before dark. Or, she could beg the owner of this house to let her in.

She didn't even know if the occupant was male or female, even though she must have walked by this house hundreds of times in her life. The only sign that someone even lived there was the beautiful garden out the front- a stark contrast to the run-down house.

She eyed the setting sun- they would begin patrolling soon- and bolted up the cracked path before she could lose her nerve. She rapped on the door, and her wrinkled her nose when her hand came away covered in dried paint. She rubbed it off on her shirt and was surprised to see the door had been opened.

A man stared shrewdly at her. His hair was almost completely gray and his faced lined, giving the impression that he was much older than she suspected he was. His eyes were cold; it hurt to look at them for too long.

"Can I help you?"

It sounded as though he hadn't used his voice for many years, although it was still relatively young. She estimated he was in his late forties.

"Can I come in? It's late, I won't make it home before they-"

"Yes, yes. Well, I suppose you'd better come in, then."

"Thank you."

She stepped inside and he closed the door firmly behind her. The hallway was as dilapidated as the outside of the house. It was bare and the wallpaper was cracked and peeling. But at least it didn't have the musty smell she had expected.

He led her through a door and into the kitchen. She suspected this was the most lived in room of the house.

"Have you got a phone?"

"Eh?"

"A phone. So I can call my mother. She'll be worried."

"I don't have one."

"Oh." She eyed him suspiciously. "Why not?"

"I don't have anyone to call."

"Oh."

He left the room and she checked out her surroundings. The kitchen was plain and void of any personal touches. Except for...

She got up and made her way over to the counter. Propped up on an empty spice rack was a photo. A wizard photo. She dropped it quickly, then gave into curiosity seconds later and retrieved it. She'd never seen one before, although she'd heard about them.

The five figures in the photo wore black robes. They stood in front of a castle which, she realized with a shocked start, was the old Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

A girl with red hair and green eyes was whispering in the ear of a shorter girl with long black hair. They both giggled at a boy with messy black hair and glasses, who'd just pushed another black-haired boy into the lake. The fifth figure in the photo stood off to the side, watching with a slightly exasperated smile. He looked like he was fighting to stay awake.

"Peter took that photo." Nerala jumped as he entered the room again. "It's probably the only decent picture he ever took."

"You're a wizard."

"Yes."

She took a step back. "But you're not one of… them?"

He chuckled bitterly. "If I was, do you think you'd still be alive?"

"No, I suppose not."

"What's your name, girl."

"Nerala. What's yours?"

"Don't remember."

"Right. Is that you?" she pointed at the boy in the photo, who was wet after climbing out of the lake.

"Yes."

"Is that Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

'Did you know Albus Dumbledore, then?"

"Yes."

"Wow. What was he like?"

"Very cryptic."

She paused, not wanted to push her luck and risk being kicked out. "So, you must have been around when He came into power."

He turned around and she tensed, nervous. "Both times."

"What was it like?"

He left the room again, and she worried she'd gone too far. But he came back moments later carrying a navy blue blanket. He led her into the living room and pointed to a beat-up old couch. "You can sleep there."

"Okay, cool. Anything's better than being out there." She perched on the edge of the couch. "So?"

"So?"

"What was it like?"

He sighed. "You really don't want to know."

"Sure I do. It's going to be a long night."

"Do you want nightmares?" He looked at her critically, but he looked almost amused. The crinkling around his eyes made him look many years younger.

"No, I don't. I just... I mean, how many times are you going to meet someone who's been around... and isn't one of them."

He sighed, and said nothing for a long while. She thought she heard someone scream outside and shuddered. "Fine. You want to know? Fine." He stood and left again, he came back carrying a rug for himself. With a mere glance at it, the empty fire grate filled with flames, creating the only light in the room. 

__

"Just don't forget, you asked for it."

"Tahnee, wake up."

Tahnee was aware of Sirius shaking her awake. She groggily sat forward and found herself looking into Sirius' eyes. The eyes of the old man in her dreams. She sighed, knowing that next time she slept she would have to hear his story. Again.

She was about to ask if they were there, but the question died on her lips when she looked out the open door of the carriage. Hogwarts castle loomed impressively before her. She felt that no matter what happened in the outside world, no matter how bad things became, Hogwarts was one of those places that would always seem safe. 

"So. That's Hogwarts."

"Yeah."

"Cool."

Sirius grinned. "Yeah. Look, I can't go inside like this."

Tahnee was about to ask how he was planning on going in, then, when he turned in into a large dog.

Tahnee blinked. "I don't even want to know."

__

Well, I thought, looking for a silver lining in the face of the oncoming cloud that was Voldemort, _I always wanted to ride in a limousine._ The sleek black vehicle sped through the streets of London. Remus and I sat in-between a small group of very somber Death Eaters. Ledger was the only one there I recognized, although by the glares Remus was giving the others, I figured he knew more of them.

The driver pulled into the driveway of an inconspicuous-looking warehouse. Remus and I were ushered at wandpoint to the door.

Ledger took out his wand and tapped the door three times, then muttered under his breath and the door opened.

We were pushed inside and I gasped. Outside it may have been an old, slightly decrepit warehouse, but inside it was a castle. The floor was smooth marble. Directly in front of us was a large water fountain, something looking suspiciously like blood flowing from the hands of a young boy. 

Behind the fountain was a marble staircase, which ended at a large, smooth wooden door.

The Death Eaters, bar Ledger, exited through a small door on the right. Ledger flicked his wand and a small, red glowing ball appeared. I found that my eyes began to water if I looked at it for too long. Chains appeared from each side of the ball, one binding my wrists and the other Remus'. 

The ball began float forward, dragging Remus and I with it. I tried to resist, but even using all the Sabi powers I had, the ball didn't even slow down for a moment.

The ball led us up the staircase and through the wooden doors. A dark corridor, lit by dim candlelight, greeted us.

"Where do you think it's taking us?" I whispered to Remus, flinching as a portrait of a sinister-looking man with a blood stain on his cheek leered down at me.

"No idea."

"You don't think it'll take us to Voldemort?"

"I don't think he's even here yet. The Death Eaters were far too relaxed."

Before I could reply, the ball halted in front of a stone door. I shivered when I realized human bones were cemented into it.

The ball hovered in front of it for a moment before the door swung open. Remus and I were led inside.

It was a small room, about a quarter of the size of a Hogwarts dorm. The roof was low, Remus would have to stoop, and the walls were made up of large gray bricks. Aside from a blanket in the corner, it was empty.

Once inside, the door slammed shut, and any sign that it had ever been there disappeared. The ball bobbed twice, then turned from red to deep, almost black, green. 

"Hmm," Remus cautiously poked it. It moved easily. "I guess we wait, then."

I placed an experimental hand on the ball. It was cool and smooth to touch, like James' Invisibility Cloak. While still holding the ball still, I pulled on my chain. It didn't budge. "Well, this is just peachy."

Remus smiled and began to walk over to the blanket in the corner. I followed- what choice did I have? The ball floated in between us.

He picked up the blanket, which was covered in pictures of broccoli (go figure) and handed it to me.

"I'm not cold," I lied. "You take it."

"Lia," he said patiently, "stop lying to me. I don't feel the cold; you do. Take the blanket."

"We'll share it, then."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Dumbledore listened carefully to Sirius and Tahnee's story, then sat in thoughtful silence.

Tahnee tapped her foot impatiently. "Look, Professor-"

"Please, call me Albus."

"Fine, Albus, we don't really have a lot of time. So if you could hurry this along?"

Sirius wondered if he was too old to kick Tahnee under the table, but Dumbledore simply smiled. He handed the two a Muggle map of London on which one particular street was circled in red.

"Every building on that street was recently purchased by a Mr. V. D. Mort. I've been keeping my eye on it for some time, and I believe this is where you will find Remus and Miss Strummings."

Tahnee stood, but Dumbledore held up a hand to stop her. "I know it would be pointless of me to try and persuade you to let someone else do this. But please, be careful."

Tahnee fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Can we go now?"

"Just one more moment. Sirius, your home was broken into while you were gone."

"What?"

"Harry and his friends found it, and brought it to my attention immediately. I have inspected it myself, and nothing appears to have been taken."

Sirius sighed. "I'm getting too old for all this."

"As am I. I believe there is more to this than it seems. We'll discuss it when you return."

Sirius nodded and transformed before he and Tahnee made their exit.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair. It was a sign of how tired he was that he didn't notice the house elf named Dobby crouching behind his door, mouth wide open.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat on the floor of the owlery, looking down at the photo Harryhad found.

"What does it mean?" Ginny asked, looking at the flickering image of Lia.

"Maybe Voldemort's spell is weakening," Harry suggested.

"Or it could be that more and more people are remembering her," Ron added.

"More and more?" Ginny asked. "As far as we know it's just us four, and we're not exactly remembering her, are we? More like learning who she is."

"I've been doing some extra reading on the spell he put on her," Hermione said thoughtfully. "For Lia to come back, at least one person had to have remembered. But that would only bring her back, it wouldn't undo the spell. I think you're both right- You-Know-Who's spell must be weakening, and more people must be remembering her. But it's enough. Only the person who remembered her in the first place can completely bring her back."

"So we find the first person, then?" Ginny asked. "How in Merlin's name are we meant to do that?"

"The notebook'll help," Harry said. "Where is it?"

With a wave of her hand, Ginny used her powers to float the book out of her bag.   
"You've been practicing," Hermione said approvingly.

Harry flicked through the pages. "Maybe it's Sirius? They were close, and Lia came back after he made it out of Azkaban."

"Maybe..." Hermione wrinkled her nose in frustration. "If only we knew what happened once the notebook ends!"

"Ohh!" Ginny sat forward, "there's a potion. I heard a girl in my class say she was going to use it to see her parents wedding... You can use it to extract memories from photos and dairies and things. I'm not exactly sure how..."

"But how could you get the memory from this?" Hermione asked, taking to notebook from Ron. "Lia never came back to the notebook, as far as we can tell."

"But maybe Sirius did!" Harry said, leaning forward, "It was hidden in the girls' dormitory, right? Lia's old dorm, and my mother's as well... It makes sense that Sirius would come in to visit her with my dad."

Ron nodded, "Yeah!"

"But unless Harry's right and Sirius is the one who remembers Lia, he wouldn't have had the memories at the time," Hermione said.

"Yeah, he would have," Ginny argued. "He just would remember that he had them... Oh, this is confusing..."

"We can at least try the potion," Ron said eagerly. "If it doesn't work, no loss. Do you know were to find the instructions for it, Gin?"

"I imagine it would be in the library somewhere."

Hermione stood. "Do you remember what it was called?"

"Uh... it started with 'v' I think. Vernum... Verium... Something like that."

Hermione nodded and left quickly.

Ron nodded knowingly. "If it exists, Herm'll find it."

Lia sat shivering under her half of the blanket. Remus kept trying to give her more, but she'd glare at him and use her powers to move it back over.

"Do think he's here yet?" Lia asked. 

Remus didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "I imagine we'll know as soon as he arrives. Don't worry, Lia, we'll get out of this somehow."

She snorted softly. "You should be a lawyer or something. I almost believed you."

Remus sighed. "Well, just don't give up yet."

This was apparently the wrong thing for him to say, because Lia burst into tears.

"Oh, don't do that!" Remus patted her awkwardly on the back. "Please?"

"I can't help it," she sniffed and scrubbed furiously at her face, "it wasn't meant to be like this! They gave me a second chance, and I've screwed it up!"

Remus shook his head in confusion. "Blue..."

Lia and her tears froze. "What did you just call me?"

"Lia."

"No! No, you called me Blue!" She jumped up and knelt in front of Remus, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. "You called me Blue!"

"Would you stop shaking me!"

She did so, but remained kneeling in front of him, staring at him intensely.

"Look, if I called you blue, I'm sorry. Though you are a bit blue, if you'd just take the rest of the blanket..." 

Lia sighed, a look of great disappointment crossing her face. "You don't remember."

"Remember what?"

She sat back. "Nothing."

Remus shook his head. "One day, Lia, you and I are going to have a serious talk." He noticed she was shivering and picked up the discarded blanket. "Here," he lent forward and draped it over her. She was crying softly again.

"Lia, don't cry," he wiped her tears away with his thumb. "We _will _get out of this. Everything will be fine."

"If I hadn't come back, everything _would_ be fine."

Remus smiled. "Maybe. But also a whole lot more boring."

She raised her head and found she was staring directly into Remus' eyes. She didn't see the kiss coming, but suddenly his lips were on hers and, after she recovered from the initial moment of shock, she was kissing him back, softly at first, then harder.

They probably would have stayed that way for quite some time, but the ball, which had been floating nearby, forgotten, suddenly glowed red once more.

Remus broke away as it began to lead them to the door. "He's here."

Authors note: Don't be mad, I didn't plan the Lia/Remus'ness! Blame lone astronomer! (who also must be thanked for beta-reading this chapter). Next chapter will be (hopefully) out soon. And for those that are interested, I'm also posting this fic at fictionalley.org


	17. Out Of The Frying Pan

Diclaimer: I don't own what J.K.Rowling and other people do.

Second Chances

Chapter seventeen: Out Of The Frying Pan...

Celia didn't take Ellie to a hospital. There didn't really appear to be anything physically wrong with her, and there wasn't a wizarding hospital for miles. Besides, she hated the places.

Instead she took Ellie to King's Park, a large Muggle park dead in the center of Perth. She sat Ellie down by the Swan River and wondered what to do. "Feeling better?"

Ellie didn't answer. She stared unblinkingly out over the smooth water, her hands clasped in her lap, her face blank and pale. 

Celia mentally cursed Tahnee for getting her caught up in all this mess. Just one week ago Celia had been living a perfectly normal, happy, Muggle existence. Now...

Her mother was dead, she'd probably lost her job, she knew the whereabouts of Sirius Black and had failed to alert the authorities, and she felt strangely guilty about not rushing off with Tahnee and _Sirius Black _to save two people she'd never heard of before in her life.

First things first… "Ellie, what's your fault?"

Ellie began to shake slightly. "All of it."

"All of what?"

Ellie suddenly turned and grasped Celia tightly by the shoulders. "I didn't want to tell him the things I did! I didn't want her to get hurt!"

"Tell who things?"

"Voldemort."

Celia shuddered and jumped back out of Ellie's hold. "What did you tell him?"

"Things… Things about Lia, things that he wouldn't have known otherwise. I didn't want to; he threatened my family!"

"Again with this Lia person! Who is she?"

"She's…" Ellie appeared to be struggling to remember something. "She's a Sabi."

Celia gasped.

"Yes," Ellie spoke more clearly now, "she's a Sabi- the _last_ Sabi. She came to Hogwarts in our… Our fifth year. From Australia. She lived with her aunt and her cousin. She trusted me with her secret. I helped at first; then he came to me. I was so afraid! I didn't want to betray her!"

Celia shook herself free of the strange feelings in the pit of her stomach and turned her attention to Ellie. "It's okay. I know it wasn't your fault."

Ellie nodded and calmed down. Celia was still confused, but felt it best not to push Ellie.

"We have to help Lia," Ellie said with conviction. "I have to make it up to her."

"Do you know where she could be?"

"No…"

Celia sighed and hoped that Tahnee and Sirius Black were having better luck.

Harry and Ron were braving their Divination homework in a quiet corner of the common room when Ginny and Hermione joined them. Ginny was cradling a large book in her arms.

"We found the potion," Hermione said proudly. "It took us a while, but I found it. I mean, we found it."

Ginny rolled her eyes, but smiled. She used her powers to open the book to a marked page. "It's the Recordatio charm-"

"Didn't you say it started with a 'v'?" Ron interrupted. 

Ginny glared at him, "I can't be expected to remember everything, Ron! Anyway, it's the Recordatio charm; Hermione's been practicing all afternoon and she's got it down pat."

Hermione looked even prouder. "We can do it right now, if you want," she said, "in a bit more private place..."

"Already?" Ron grinned. "You don't waste any time... Do you have the notebook?"

Ginny nodded.

"Well, let's go then. An empty classroom?"

Hermione shook her head. "Too risky. We were think the Shrieking Shack."

Harry stood. "Okay, then I'll just grab my cloak and we'll head off."

The floor of the Shrieking Shack was cold and damp. Ron was the only one put off by this, though, as Hermione and Ginny were occupied by the charm and Harry was lost in memories of the last time he had been in the shack. He missed Sirius terribly and hoped that wherever he and Remus were, they were safe.

"Okay," Hermione set Lia's notebook in front of her and took out her wand, "are we ready?" She didn't wait for an answer. She tapped the book with her wand, flicked her wrist and repeated the charm three times.

The notebook rose about a meter of the ground and began to glow a faint orange color. A small silver orb, about the size of a Quaffle, appeared above it, rotating slowly. The orb began to slowly grow, and at the same time the color flickered from silver to red and back to silver.

It didn't stop growing until it was the size of Dudley's satellite dish. It now appeared to be filled with a grayish-blue smoke. It swirled around for a few minutes, then began to fade and was replaced with static. No, Harry realized a second later, it wasn't static; it was rain. After a moment he could make out a girl about his age wearing Gryffindor robes.

"That must be a young Lia!" Hermione whispered excitedly.

No one else spoke for the next half hour while the events of that night played out inside the orb.

As Voldemort raised his hand to cast the spell that would wipe Lia from memory, the image flickered and stopped completely. It shrunk back to Quaffle size and disappeared.

The notebook began to fall and Ron reached over and caught it, more by reflex than anything else.

"Well." Hermione paused, for the first time in her life trying to think of something to say. "What do we do now?"

The silently walked back to the castle, not really noticing the light drizzle of rain that had begun to fall. By the time they got back, dinner was being served, so the halls were practically deserted. 

"Shall we go try to catch some dinner, or just raid the kitchens later?" asked Ginny softly, even though there was no need to be quiet.

Harry opened his mouth to answer but was quite suddenly bowled over by a House Elf on a mission. Harry sat up, rubbing his ribs. "Dobby! What on Earth is wrong?"

"Dobby is begging your pardon, Harry Potter," he said hurriedly, wringing his hands, "but there is something important I must be telling you!"

Only a short while after their meeting with Dumbledore, Sirius and Tahnee found themselves standing in the street he had directed them to.

"Well?" Sirius asked expectantly, looking at Tahnee.

"Well what?"

"Which one of these buildings are Lia and Remus in?"

Tahnee shrugged in an annoyingly calm manner. "I don't know."

"You don't know? You mean we have to search every one of these warehouses? There must be at least twenty here!"

Tahnee rolled her eyes. "Stress less, Black. Lia must not be in any danger right now, but as soon as she is I'll know where to go. Though it just occurred to me that all of these places are probably protected by charms and hexes and stuff."

Sirius cursed. "I never thought of that." He shook his head angrily. "I can't believe I never thought of that! What the hell is wrong with me?"

Tahnee, despite everything, managed a grin. "Maybe your mind is taken up with other important things? Like Lia?" She instantly appeared to regret what she had said and became very interested in the sidewalk. "Forget I said that. I know it must be hard for you having to pretend you don't remember her."

Sirius shrugged. "A decent reason would help."

"I would tell you if I could, Sirius, but-"

"But? But what?! I deserve a reason, Tahnee!"

Tahnee looked very pained for a moment, then extremely worried. She pointed. "Lia and Remus are in there."

Neither of us said a word as the glowing ball led us down a new corridor. The stone walls sloped downwards and were void of any portraits, although occasionally we passed rusted shackles and crumbling bones.

"Were going to the dungeons," Remus whispered.

I didn't bother replying as I'd already figured this out. Besides, I didn't want to talk to Remus just yet. At that moment, I didn't want to talk to Remus ever again. I just wanted to find Sirius as quickly as possible and throw myself at him. 

Finally, the ball stopped us in front of a large stone arch. Instead of a door, there was a golden, opaque magical barrier. I could hear a rushing sound coming from behind it. Remus put his hand forward as if to touch it and quickly pulled away again. "It's hot," was all he said.

A blurred figure appeared on the other side of the barrier. It raised its wand and slowly stroked the barrier. It began to swirl like water than part and disappeared into the stone walls. Hugh Ledger stood leering at us; Wormtail a sobbing, huddling mess on the floor behind him. 

Ledger saw me looking and his leer turned to a smirk. "Don't worry about him. He simply learned the price of displeasing my Master."

The ball pulled us forward into the room and I nearly cried aloud. The floor and walls were literally made of ice. I wondered how Ledger could look so comfortable in his thin robes when after a few seconds in the room I was sure my lips had turned blue.

"I must apologize for the temperature," Ledger said. "My Lord is not at all fond of the heat."

He flicked his wand. Our chains fell away and were sucked up inside the ball, which shrunk to the size of a marble. Ledger put it in his pocket and stepped behind Remus and I. Then, when it became obvious that we were not planning on moving forward, he gave us both a sharp push.

The ice room had at first looked small, about the size of a bathroom, but hidden from my view at first was another archway, much like the one we'd just come through, with a blue magical barrier that looked like falling water. The rushing sound grew louder as we approached it and I realized that it wasn't a magical barrier at all, but a real waterfall. In any other situation it would have been beautiful.

"Well," Ledger pushed us forward again, "through you go."

I knew right at that moment that I would rather sleep in a snake pit than pass through the waterfall, but as Ledger threateningly raised his wand I realized I really had no choice.

Remus gave me a reassuring glance and with a deep breath we passed through the wall of water.

"Harry, stop pacing," said Ginny calmly. "It's not helping."

Harry flopped on Hermione's bed as the four of them were gathered in her dorm. He looked sharply at Hermione and Ginny, saying clearly with one look that he was still peeved that Hermione had told Ginny about Sirius without telling them. "Well, neither is sitting around talking about this. Sirius needs our help; let's go now!"

Hermione wrung her hands. "Harry, Sirius isn't necessarily in trouble-"

"But Remus is!"

"Yes, and Sirius is going to help him. They do not need our help, Harry. And besides, even Dumbledore can't help us if we get caught outside of school grounds. I don't want to be expelled, Harry, and I'm sure you don't either."

Ron nodded, "Hermione's right, Harry. Sirius knows what he's doing; he'll be fine without us rushing off with our wands blazing and probably screwing everything up anyway."

Harry scowled and said nothing.

"You're not going to go and do anything stupid, are you Harry?" Ginny asked softly.

"No. Hermione's right; what can we do?" He stood up, "I'm going to bed."

Ron watched him go with an unconvinced look on his face. "He's going to do something stupid, isn't he?"

Sirius and Tahnee stared up at the building Tahnee was sure that Lia was in.

Tahnee scratched the back of her head. "You know, I think Lia and Remus are screwed."

"Don't say that!"

"Can you see a way in?"

"Well, not at the moment. That's no reason to give up though, Tahnee. Honestly."

"I'm not saying we should give up, I'm just saying maybe we should go home, throw a few snags on the barbie, and hope that Lia and Remus get out of this themselves."

"Well, aren't you a great person to have around when the going gets tough."

Tahnee glared at him. "I'm just telling it like it is."

"Well, maybe if you'd shut up for a second I could share my plan to get in with you."

"You have a plan to get in?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well why didn't you say something?"

Sirius' plan wouldn't work unless it was staged at night, so the two settled down behind an empty dumpster to wait.

After an hour Tahnee was leaning against Sirius' arm, soundly asleep.

__

The old man stared at his hands for a few moments. Nerala waited intently for him to start. Finally, he took a deep breath and began.

'Voldemort's first reign was bad. Nothing compared to his second, of course. But for me... I lost so many friends to Voldemort in those years.

'At first, Voldemort dedicated his life to becoming immortal.' He paused, 'Do you know what a Sabi is?'

Nerala nodded. 'Of course; we learn about them at school.' 

'My father was one, you know. One of the last to go once Voldemort started hunting them down. It was a tragedy, sure, but the majority of the wizarding community believed the world was safer without the Sabi. All it took was one person like Voldemort to get hold of one...

'Nobody worried much about it anymore once all the Sabi were gone. Then, years later when I was fifteen and at Hogwarts, Voldemort raised his ugly head. At first he was a bit of a joke. Nobody really believed he'd cause much damage. Sure, he was killing wizards, but at that stage he was seen as nothing more than a mad man whom would soon be stopped.

'Then came Lia.

'I'll never forget the first time I met her.' He almost smiled when he said this, 'At least, I'll never forget it again. She had the cutest accent. She came to Hogwarts from Australia, you know, although of course she didn't know why at the time.'

Nerala interrupted, 'You're talking about Lia Strummings?'

'Yes.'

'You knew Lia Strummings?'

He gave a short, harsh laugh. 'Oh, I knew her, all right.'

'What was she like? I mean, the history gives the details, birthday and all that crap, but what was she like_? What did she look like? Did she do it willingly like they think or-'_

'Slow down. I'll tell you, just slow down. Yes, I knew Lia Strummings. She was... Right from the start I knew she was something else. I knew she was special. Oh, James and the others-'

'James? James Potter? The_ James Potter?'_

'Yes, now would you stop interrupting me? Now, James and the others took great delight in teasing us mercifully. Lia and I, I mean. Oh, and how we denied it! "Just friends," we used to say. She didn't know she was a Sabi, not at first. I figured it out before she did and once she finally cottoned on, I tried to tell her to ignore it. But that just wasn't like her. All she could see was the potential to help people! She simply couldn't understand the flip side of the coin. She was like that, completely incapable of seeing the darker side of life.

'But I digress. Lia began to practice using her powers. She came a long way in a short period of time. That was mostly due to Rachel; she was a professor to be if ever I saw one.

'Then Peter, Peter Pettigrew-'

'As in Wormtail?'

'Yes. He was a good friend. James, Remus-'

'Lupin?'

'Yes. James, Remus, Peter and I were as thick as thieves. Then Peter turned. To this day I still don't know why he did it... 

'Anyway, Peter took me to Voldemort, and he used me to get to Lia. I loved her, you know, and I guess she loved me, because she gave up everything. If it wasn't for the potion...'

'I know about that potion. We have to learn how to make them in science.'

'Of course you would. After that, Voldemort really came into power. I had no memory of Lia, of course; not really. No one did, except for Tahnee-'

'Tahnee?'

'They don't tell you about Tahnee? I'm sure she's spinning in her grave. Voldemort killed wizards and witches and Muggles left, right, and center. But you know all that. It was... There are no words for how awful it was. But in the midst of it all there were wonderful things. Lily and James' wedding was beautiful. And then came Harry.'

Her voice was barely more than a whisper. 'Harry Potter?'

'Yes. I can still remember looking down at him in his crib. He was hardly more than a month old. He didn't cry when a pricked him, or when I mixed a little of our blood. Lia had given me some of hers, you know, not that I remembered it at the time. I didn't know why I did it then; it just seemed right.'

'Is that how he survived?'

'Yes.'

'Wow.'

'James and Lily's death... God, so many years later and I still can't talk about that night. I found them, you know.'

'No; Sirius Black found them.'

'Yes. I found them.'

'You're Sirius Black?'

'Yes.'

She sat, stunned. 

'Do you still want to hear this?'

'Bloody sure I do.'

"Tahnee, wake up!"

Once again, Tahnee felt herself being shaken awake by Sirius. She looked at him sadly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Sirius. Nothing at all."

"It's getting dark; we should get ready."

He helped her up, still looking concerned. "Are you sure your ok?"

"I will be, just as soon as we get Lia and Remus out of there. I think..." She sighed and dusted her hands on her jeans, "I think there's something you need to tell Lia." _After all,_ she reasoned with herself, _there's no point trying to stop the inevitable._

Authors note: Hi, remember me? I know it's been a long time and I know there are no excuses... Will you all forgive me?

Thanks to lone astronomer for beta reading and cheering me on and thanks to my bud Mell for threatening me with everything under the sun till I got it done. (are you still awake Mell dear?)


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